The State of New Mexico has organized "listening sessions" to evaluate the issues and perceptions of residents who live near Los Alamos National Laboratory.

 

Notice of these sessions appeared a week after an AP story reported northern New Mexico resident’s concern over the U.S. Department of Energy proposal to increase plutonium pit production at the nuclear weapons lab by over 800%.  Plutonium pits are the core of nuclear warheads. 

 

According to the Associated Press:

 

The Los Alamos National Laboratory "is located within the food basket of northern New Mexico," said the New Mexico Acequia Association, which told the DOE it is concerned about potential radioactive contamination of land and water. Acequias are the irrigation ditches that feed farmland.

Some 40 miles northeast and downwind of Los Alamos, the Embudo Valley was reminded after a huge fire in 2000 just how close the lab is. The fire rained ash on the area and cloaked it in smoke.

A citizens’ group, in conjunction with the state Environment Department, began monitoring air and sampling soil and produce for radionuclides, in an effort to determine exposure levels.

Of concern are exceptionally high levels of strontium, cesium and plutonium high in the Sangre de Cristo mountains above the valley, at the top of the watershed.

 

Spokespersons for the DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration claim that it is part of a restructuring plan for the nation’s nuclear weapon’s complex aimed at consolidating size and increasing efficiency and security. 

 

The AP report goes on to state:

 

…critics say a comprehensive regional environmental health assessment is needed before the DOE considers expanding the lab’s operations.

And the state Environment Department says cleanup of the lab’s 60-year "legacy of pollution" — not expanded pit production — should be the DOE’s priority.

 

The Environment Department stated that better understanding of these issues and priorities that are important to northern New Mexicans will allow the Department to incorporate these concerns into its decisions on handling potential environmental risks posed by LANL.

 

The nuclear security administration will decide on a restructuring plan by year’s end. 

 

The New Mexico Environment Department and the New Mexico Community Foundation will host the events with the first session taking place on July 22nd at the Genoveva Chavez Community Center at 3221 Rodeo Road in Santa Fe from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Other sessions will be announced at that meeting.