New Mexico’s battle for U.S. Senate is headed to the birthplace of the atomic bomb, where Rep. Heather Wilson is scheduled to address Los Alamos National Laboratory workers Wednesday.

And the fight is expected to continue at the lab next week, when Wilson and her Republican primary opponent, Rep. Steve Pearce, are scheduled to face off in an April 25 televised debate, according to the Los Alamos Monitor, one of the debate sponsors. Both candidates are competing to replace retiring incumbent Pete Domenici, R-N.M., a staunch LANL ally who has for decades helped to keep billions of federal dollars flowing to the state’s national labs.



Republicans think their likely Democratic opponent in the senate race, Rep. Tom Udall, is vulnerable in Los Alamos, where he took a political beating last year for supporting an appropriations bill that called for about $400 million in lab funding cuts.



"We know it’s going to be a hot issue…Congressman Pearce is not going to take funding cuts lying down."" Pearce campaign spokesman Brian Phillips said Tuesday of LANL’s $1.8 billion budget and the impact it has on the regional economy.

Udall, whose congressional district includes Los Alamos, defended his vote earlier this year, telling lab workers that he tried to restore about half of the $400 million in proposed cuts but was unsuccessful. Ultimately, Udall supported a final compromise budget bill that restored the lab’s funding, while Wilson and Pearce voted against it. Both said they did so because the bill didn’t fully fund the troops in Iraq, according to an Associated Press report earlier this year.

In addition to funding issues, candidates are also facing questions about the lab’s future nuclear weapons mission. The National Nuclear Security Administration wants to expand LANL’s role in producing plutonium pits - the highly radioactive cores of modern nuclear bombs. Local community groups, lab critics and some local governments adamantly oppose the plan, citing environmental and nuclear proliferation concerns. Under the government’s proposal LANL could produce 50-80 pits per year. The Pearce campaign seems warm to the idea, noting that the lab already has a proven capability to produce pits on a smaller scale. However, Pearce "doesn’t want to sign off on anything until it’s put in front of us," according to his spokesman.

Likewise, Udall has yet to take a firm position on pit production, but he has been pushing for the nuclear weapons lab to pursue new kinds of research, like renewable energy.

Wilson’s campaign did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment. Meanwhile, next week’s debate - to be held from 7 - 9 p.m. at Duane Smith Auditorium - will feature panelists from the Los Alamos Monitor, KRQE-TV and the League of Women Voters of Los Alamos, the Monitor reported. KRQE and radio station KRSN 1490 AM plan to broadcast the event, according to the paper.