http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/Local-briefs--Dec--1--2010

December 1, 2010

County urges new LANL statement from feds

The Santa Fe County Commission approved a resolution Tuesday urging federal officials to require a new environmental impact statement for a proposed Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement Nuclear Facility that Los Alamos National Laboratory intends to build.

Commissioner Kathleen Holian — a former LANL employee who proposed the resolution — said a new impact study is needed because the scope of the proposed facility is much more extensive than the project that was proposed in 2003, when the existing study was conducted. Holian said the cost of the project — which includes plans for the storage of as much as 6 metric tons of radioactive materials that would be used to manufacture plutonium warhead cores, among other things —has ballooned from an estimated $400 million to about $5 billion. Holian said she is also concerned that transporting radioactive materials to and from the proposed facility could pose a risk for county residents.

The Santa Fe City Council passed a similar resolution Nov. 10.