CCW NEWS RELEASE
Communities for Clean Water (CCW), a coalition of organizations working to ensure that community waters and communities impacted by Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) are protected, has sent a letter to the New Mexico Congressional Delegation calling on them to secure the immediate release of two reports from the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). CCW asserts the necessity of these reports to assess the safety and management of continued and expanded plutonium pit production at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL).
“Pueblos have a right to exist without fear of contamination, seismic, or nuclear disaster. The DOE and NNSA hide the impacts and ignore the voices of the people most affected by their decisions. These documents must be released so that we can ensure the safety of the land, water, and future generations,” said Kalyn Mae Finnell, Communities for Clean Water.
LANL, a key site for the U.S. nuclear weapons program, with a specific focus on plutonium pits, is working to expand plutonium pit production from 10-20 pits per year to 80 pits per year. Plutonium production poses significant risks to workers, local communities and Pueblos, the environment, and the cultural significance of the area. LANL is located in a geologically unstable region, atop an active seismic zone and a sole-source drinking aquifer, in a fire-prone landscape, and holds great spiritual and cultural importance to the Pueblos. The safety of conducting and expanding production depends heavily on accurate risk assessments, something the two missing reports would cover.
“The DOE and NNSA are committing deep disservice to their workers, local communities, and the environment by moving forward with expanded plutonium pit production without truly examining the potential dangers and impacts. By withholding these two reports, the government is placing the safety of the entire region at risk. Congress must intervene before it is too late,” said Nicholas Thompson, Sovereign Energy.
The two reports, each over eight months delayed, include an Updated Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis for LANL, which would look into seismic data critical to expansion, especially necessary as the current data and therefore the estimates are outdated. The second report would be the DOE Special Study on NNSA Leadership and Management of Pit Production covering an internal review of NNSA’s ability to manage pit production. Calls for the second report to be released have been made by Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative John Garamendi.
“Plutonium pit production has continued for generations in blatant disregard for the safety of the communities it claims to protect. We deserve to know the true impacts of expanding this extraction and have a say in whether or not that happens. These reports remaining hidden only continue the legacy of harm committed by nuclear weapons,” said Alhelí Caton Garcia, Youth Against Nukes.
“Since the start of the nuclear arms race, our communities have been on the frontlines of nuclear violence. The area they want to extract plutonium is the site of deep cultural significance, from the soil to the water to the air,” said Elder Kathy Sanchez, Communities for Clean Water, from Pueblo de San Ildefonso. “The expansion of plutonium pit production at LANL is another attack on our people, sacred lands, and environment. We demand the release of the impact reports and the ability to have a say in what happens.”
The CCW coalition includes those directly impacted by plutonium pit production, including Amigos Bravos, Breath of My Heart Birthplace, Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, Honor Our Pueblo Existence, the New Mexico Acequia Association, Partnership for Earth Spirituality, and Tewa Women United, and Tribal members. The coalition asks the public to email their members of Congress and request that they secure the release of two documents and to push the DOE to create a comment period allowing the public adequate time to weigh in on this potentially devastating decision.