Watchdog group: Plutonium building at Los Alamos lab needs environmental study

NM watchdog group sues to halt plutonium factory

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A watchdog group has filed suit in federal court to halt a multibillion-dollar plutonium building planned at Los Alamos National Laboratory until an environmental study can be done.

The Los Alamos Study Group’s lawsuit alleges the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration have violated the Environmental Protection Act by preparing to build the Chemical and Metallurgy Replacement Nuclear Facility without a new environmental impact statement.

The Study Group says CMRR’s Nuclear Facility is meant only to increase the production capacity for the cores of nuclear weapons, known as pits. But it says NNSA has no pit production mission.

A spokeswoman for the NNSA, Jennifer Wagner, says the agency does not comment on pending litigation.