The U.S. government is planning to review the environmental effects of operation at one of the nation’s prominent nuclear weapons laboratories. However, its notice issued Friday leaves out federal goals to increase production of plutonium cores used in the nation’s nuclear arsenal. The National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA) said that the review is being carried out in order to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act. It will examine the potential environmental effects of alternatives for operations at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) for the next fifteen years.
     That work includes preventing the proliferation and use of nuclear weapons across the globe and other projects related to national security and global stability, according to the notice. Watchdog groups claim that regardless of the review, the NNSA will proceed with its production plans for plutonium cores at the LANL.
     The LANL is located in New Mexico. It was part of the top secret Manhattan Project during World War II. It is the birthplace of the U.S. atomic bomb. The LANL is one of two sites selected for the lucrative mission of manufacturing the plutonium cores. The other site is the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.
     Democratic members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation fought to ensure that the LANL would be among the recipients of the billions of dollars and thousands of jobs that will generated by the mission.
     The U.S. Energy Department (DoE) had set deadlines for 2026 and 2030 for ramping up production of the plutonium cores. However, it is unclear whether those goals will be met given the billions of dollars in infrastructure improvements that are still needed.
     Watchdog groups that have been critical of the LANL accused the NNSA of just going through the motions instead of taking a hard look at the escalating costs of preparing for production, the future consequences to the federal budget and the potential environmental fallout for neighboring communities and Native American tribes in the area.
    Jay Coghlan is the executive director of Nuclear Watch New Mexico. He said, “This is too little too late, a sham process designed to circumvent citizen enforcement of the National Environmental Policy Act. The key sentence in NNSA’s announcement is that absent any new decisions in the site-wide environmental impact statement, the agency will continue to implement decisions it previously made behind closed doors.”
     The Los Alamos Study Group is another New Mexico-based organization that monitors LANL activities. They said that there is no indication that the NNSA will pause any of their preparations in order to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act. The Act mandates some scrutiny before moving ahead with major federal projects. The group pointed to more than nineteen billion dollars in new construction and operating costs for LANL’s new plutonium core production mission through fiscal year 2033. They said that it is probable that the price tag will grow.
      According to planning documents related to the sprawling LANL campus, lab officials have indicated that they need more than four million square feet of new construction to expand one of its main technical areas and that area where the lab’s plutonium operations are located. There will also be a need for several thousand new staff members.
      Greg Mello is the director of the Los Alamos Study Group. He said, “This is a completely bogus process in which NNSA seeks to create a veneer of legitimacy and public acceptance for its reckless plans.”
     The NNSA mentioned that in 2020 it conducted a supplemental analysis of a 2008 sitewide environmental impact statement focused on infrastructure and capability increases needed for the lab to make thirty plutonium cores per year.
     Toni Chiri is a spokeswoman with the NNSA’s field office in Los Alamos. She said that it was time for new review to cover alternative activities to meet what she described as the “full suite” of the lab’s mission. She added that “NNSA looks forward to engaging the public, governments and other stakeholders and receiving their input on the process and outcome.”
     People have until October 3rd to make comments on the scope of the planned review.