Anti-nuclear activists push City Council to oppose LANL pit production

By Carina Julig cjulig@sfnewmexican.com
Oct 11, 2023

A small group of anti-nuclear activists gathered outside City Hall Wednesday afternoon to ask the Santa Fe City Council to introduce a resolution denouncing the production of plutonium triggers at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

About two dozen people took part in the protest, organized by the Los Alamos Study Group, which supports nuclear disarmament.

Several also spoke during public comments at Wednesday evening’s council meeting.

The group opposes LANL’s plan to produce 30 plutonium triggers, or pits, by 2026.

The bowling ball-sized triggers are the cores that go inside nuclear bombs.

The production of new pits will modernize the nation’s aging nuclear arsenal, as no significant quantity of new pits has been produced since the shutdown of the Rocky Flats Plant in Colorado in 1989.

Nuclear security and military officials have said this is necessary as a deterrent against Russia, China and rogue states, something Los Alamos Study Group Director Greg Mello disputes.

“LANL’s Rube-Goldberg, Jerry-rigged pit program is driven by greed and the mistaken idea that more and different warheads will help bring peace into the world,” Mello said in a news release.

At the protest, the group held posters reading “Santa Fe — city of peace, not war” and displayed a banner reading “Stop the new bomb factory” near the statue of St. Francis outside City Hall.

Roberto Roibal said as a Santa Fe native whose family has deep roots in the region, he is concerned about production taking place so close to his home.

“One single small nuclear accident could really spoil our day here,” he said.

He noted New Mexico has experienced “the full nuclear cycle,” including current or historic uranium mining, nuclear testing, pit production and nuclear waste storage.

A resolution has not been introduced, but Mello said he has been talking to Councilor Renee Villarreal about introducing one. Villarreal has sponsored previous measures opposing nuclear pit production at LANL.

A draft of the resolution calls on the city to oppose all pit production at the lab, oppose further expansion of LANL into Santa Fe and call on New Mexico’s congressional delegation to halt preparations and funding for nuclear pit production.

“It is symbolic, but we do have positions of power,” Villarreal said of the proposed resolution.

She said she believes it’s important to show members of New Mexico’s federal delegation how the city feels about the work being done at LANL, regardless of the positions they ultimately take.

“As elected officials, to hear that we have a stance is important,” she said.

Mello said the resolution could be introduced at the next council meeting, Oct. 25, or, more likely, at the Nov. 8 meeting.

The lab is in the process of exploring a satellite campus in Santa Fe or Bernalillo counties, in part to cut down on traffic to the lab and overcrowding at its Los Alamos facilities as it is in the process of hiring more workers.

Many of the lab’s employees commute from Santa Fe, Española and the Albuquerque area.