|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Plutonium pits are radioactive cores of every nuclear weapon. Congress approved new plutonium pit production at the rate of up to 80 to 120 new pits every year.
The first 10-plus years of these pits will go into new nuclear weapons designs being developed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. However, the actual production of plutonium pits is being planned at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Livermore Lab is conducting major support work.
Local group Tri-Valley CAREs joined suit with several other groups (in N.M. and S.C.) arguing that a full “programmatic” environmental review of potential impacts of this multi-site program needed to be analyzed together, rather than in separate site-specific documents, and a judge in South Carolina agreed.
Now the agency has begun the process with a “scoping public comment” period to allow public input on the contents of the analysis.
Citizens can attend virtual scoping meetings to submit comments on the scope, environmental issues, and propose alternatives for consideration on May 27 from 2-4:30 p.m. PST and/or May 28 from 4-6:30 p.m. PST. And citizens can submit written comments, by July 14, to PitPEIS@nnsa.doe.gov. Use this to also request a link to virtual scoping meetings. Talking points and a link to the government announcement can be found on the Tri-Valley CAREs website.
Following the July 14 deadline, the Department of Energy will be issuing a lengthy Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (Draft PEIS) that should integrate/respond to the “scoping” comments and include detailed analyses of the impacts on the environment and risks of this plan.
Following the release of the Draft PEIS, there will be an in-person public hearing in Livermore (and other nuclear lab sites), as well as another opportunity to submit written comments on the full Draft PEIS.
— Felicia Ziomek
Pleasanton council shows early support for annexation, downtown plan, other priority projectsMarch 25, 2026 2:36 pm
Nighttime lane closures on I-580 near Pleasanton, I-680 through San Ramon ValleyMarch 25, 2026 2:05 pm