by Aspen Coriz-Romero

Photo Courtesy of Tim Wright (Flickr)

In January 2025, a grassroots collaborative spanning four states reached a historic settlement with the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) requiring transparency and accountability in the production of nuclear weapons parts.  

The grassroots collaborative - which includes South Carolina Environmental Law Project, Savannah River Site Watch, Nuclear Watch New Mexico, Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive Environment (CAREs), and the Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition - first filed a landmark case against the NNSA in June 2021. 

In September 2024 a Federal District Court of South Carolina ruled NNSA’s two-site plutonium pit production plans were in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

The judge ruled that NNSA failed to complete an environmental impact statement detailing the social and environmental repercussions of plutonium pit production at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The NNSA had previously moved to have the case dismissed, a move the judge rejected, saying the ruling was “not a close call.” 

The NNSA plan required that together the two sites produce no fewer than 80 plutonium pits per year by 2030 - a goal now delayed to at least 2036. The last time the U.S. produced large quantities of the pits was 1989, when the Rocky Flats Plant was permanently shut down because of dangerous and illegal practices like dumping radioactive waste. 

But what are plutonium pits anyway? And why does the Pentagon want so many?  

A “pit" is a grapefruit-sized sphere of plutonium that starts the detonation of a nuclear weapon. Production on such a large scale isn’t safe or necessary, as the current stockpile is well over 10,000 pits that are between 40-50 years old - well below the minimum lifetime of at least 150 years as determined by the government’s own assessment.    

Production of plutonium pits is just a piece of a massive plan to rededicate the 21st century to expanding nuclear weapons development - anticipated to cost more than $1.7 trillion in taxpayer money over 30 years. 

The first 800 pits will enable the development of a new series of nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). The LGM-35A Sentinel weapon system program contracted through Northrop Grumman has an estimated cost that ballooned more than 134% since 2014 - at $140.9 billion it’s expected to be one of the Air Force’s most costly programs in US history. More importantly, the Sentinel is not a part of any rational nuclear deterrence scheme, and in the event of nuclear war it could become a target that could expose the entire population of the contiguous U.S. to lethal nuclear radiation.

But even before the risk of nuclear war and fallout, the accelerating nuclear arms race has disastrous health and safety implications for people across the country. 

Per the settlement, within the next 2.5 years, NNSA would be required to complete a nation-wide environmental impact statement covering the potential social and ecological impacts of the pit operation: from the shipping of plutonium in trucks on highways across the country, to production and storage of nuclear materials, to the clean up and disposal of radioactive waste. 

The impact statement must also assess the outcomes of the agency’s dubious plan to dispose of the project’s radioactive waste 2,000 feet underground at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in southern New Mexico. An alarming report by the National Academy of Sciences found that the surplus waste is projected to substantially exceed a congressionally mandated volume cap for the facility - effectively putting the lives and livelihoods of surrounding residents at risk. 

The settlement also provides for transparency and accountability mechanisms. It requires two rounds of public hearings and 45 to 90 day periods for public comment in affected locations, both before and after the environmental impact statement is drafted. 

This commentary period isn’t inconsequential - it's an opportunity to empower communities to fight back and directly voice that a new nuclear arms race isn’t something needed or wanted. Even more, it’s a chance to hold our government accountable to the future generations to come. 

Reviving nuclear weapons development only serves to endanger our security by increasing the likelihood of testing (which hasn’t been done on US soil since 1992) and nuclear war - effectively diminishing the possibility of disarmament that was promised long ago in the 1970 Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty. 

This long and hard fought win offers us a pivotal moment to advocate and mobilize for the fulfillment of human needs and protection of all life - over the expansion of nuclear arms production.  

ACTIONS YOU CAN TAKE: 

• Keep up with posted public hearing dates and times on the NNSA/NEPA website 
• Learn more with Nuclear Watch NM Plutonium Pit Production Resource: The Facts & What You Can Do
• Send written comments by mail: Mr. Alan Chen, NEPA Document Manager @ National Nuclear Security Administration, Livermore Field Office 7000 East Avenue, L-293 Livermore, CA 94550-9234
• Submit comments by email: LLNLSEIS@nnsa.doe.gov
• Or by phone:   833-778-0508 to leave a message
• Join more than 700 scientists – Tell Congress: Cancel Sentinel Missile Program
• Tell Congress: Stop Dangerous Plans to Expand Nuclear Weapons Complex

Aspen Coriz-Romero is the New Mexico Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies.