SF County Commission urges LANL to conduct impact study

Resolution cites previous safety breakdowns, including at WIPP

SANTA FE — The Santa Fe County Commission on Tuesday unanimously passed a resolution asking Los Alamos National Laboratory for a Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement for its plutonium pit production.

The resolution comes as the lab plans to increase its plutonium pit production to 30 pits per year by 2026, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Plutonium pits are the triggering device used in nuclear weapons.

The last SWEIS at LANL was performed 13 years ago.

In August, the National Nuclear Security Administration said it had determined that an updated SWEIS was not needed because there was already sufficient information.

Commissioner Anna Hansen said it’s unconscionable that the Department of Energy and the NNSA ignore the demands of elected officials and the public for a new SWEIS.

“(The) county commissioners are charged with the protection of the health and safety of their citizens,” she said. “And doing a Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement is just a basic protection of constituents, citizens of Santa Fe County, to protect them from what may or may not happen in Los Alamos.”

Jay Coghlan of Nuclear Watch New Mexico spoke in support of the resolution during the public comment period of Tuesday’s meeting. He said the SWEIS needs to consider the safety impact wildfires have on pit production. He noted that, in the early 2000s, the Cerro Grande Fire almost destroyed 40,000 barrels of radioactive material, which could have contaminated the entire area.

“It’s good for both the public and the lab,” he said. “I don’t think they should be viewed as against the laboratory. It’s simply following federal law.”

Teresa Seamster, with the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club, said it’s important to recognize the safety issues that LANL has had over the years. She said it’s “so much more than just a Santa Fe issue.”

Other members of the public also submitted letters to the County Commission in

support of the resolution.

The resolution also delineates some of the safety issues LANL has experienced. For example, the NNSA reported in 2017 that the lab didn’t meet critical safety expectations. That same year, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board found lab workers were possibly exposed to lethal doses of radiation. In 2014, a radioactive waste drum from LANL ruptured and closed the Waste

Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad for three years.

“These dramatic developments remind us that a new LANL SWEIS, with full public participation, is required before any of the expansion plans are considered,” Hansen said.