The National Nuclear Security Administration on Friday kicked off a big environmental review of the agency’s plan for expanding the Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M. over the next 15 years.
Among the activities the nuclear-weapons agency plans to review are:
- Upgrading the lab’s capability to test nuclear weapons and components in radiation-rich environments by replacing the aging Annular Core Research Reactor with the Combined Radiation Environments for Survivability Testing.
- Demolishing unneeded facilities.
- Building infrastructure to reduce the carbon emissions for which Sandia is responsible.
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) invited the public to comment on its plans from Friday through June 5 and planned to host an in-person meeting about the upcoming sitewide environment impact statement on May 9 at 6:30 Mountain time at the New Mexico Veterans Memorial, Museum & Conference Center in Albuquerque, the agency announced.
The agency also planned a virtual public meeting on May 11.
The NNSA last did a sitewide environmental impact statement for Sandia in 1999, according to Friday’s federal register notice about the upcoming review.
Sitewide environmental impact statements are required under federal law and attempt to assess how the government’s activities, in this case, developing and testing nuclear-weapon components, affect people, places, fauna and flora in proximity to those activities.
