“…Residents of Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Los Alamos and beyond asked questions and made comments about nuclear production and disposal in New Mexico. The crowd addressed a pair of officials from the National Nuclear Security Administration and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management. There was hardly an empty seat in the auditorium; 150 others attended the town hall virtually. Speakers at the town hall generally focused on three main issues: increased production of plutonium pits, ramped up disposal of transuranic waste at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, and nuclear proliferation.”
By Alaina Mencinger / Journal Staff Writer, ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL | April 5, 2023 abqjournal.com
![Crowd turns out for town hall on plutonium pits, nuclear waste storage](https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/abqjournal.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/20/020d6bc3-79b6-554d-9aaf-b2351498adbc/647f61919fef2.image.jpg?resize=150%2C101 150w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/abqjournal.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/20/020d6bc3-79b6-554d-9aaf-b2351498adbc/647f61919fef2.image.jpg?resize=200%2C134 200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/abqjournal.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/20/020d6bc3-79b6-554d-9aaf-b2351498adbc/647f61919fef2.image.jpg?resize=225%2C151 225w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/abqjournal.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/20/020d6bc3-79b6-554d-9aaf-b2351498adbc/647f61919fef2.image.jpg?resize=300%2C201 300w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/abqjournal.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/20/020d6bc3-79b6-554d-9aaf-b2351498adbc/647f61919fef2.image.jpg?resize=400%2C268 400w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/abqjournal.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/20/020d6bc3-79b6-554d-9aaf-b2351498adbc/647f61919fef2.image.jpg?resize=540%2C362 540w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/abqjournal.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/20/020d6bc3-79b6-554d-9aaf-b2351498adbc/647f61919fef2.image.jpg?resize=640%2C429 640w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/abqjournal.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/20/020d6bc3-79b6-554d-9aaf-b2351498adbc/647f61919fef2.image.jpg?resize=750%2C503 750w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/abqjournal.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/20/020d6bc3-79b6-554d-9aaf-b2351498adbc/647f61919fef2.image.jpg?resize=990%2C664 990w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/abqjournal.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/20/020d6bc3-79b6-554d-9aaf-b2351498adbc/647f61919fef2.image.jpg?resize=1035%2C694 1035w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/abqjournal.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/20/020d6bc3-79b6-554d-9aaf-b2351498adbc/647f61919fef2.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C805 1200w)
Archbishop John Wester, left, and Jay Coghlan, director of Nuclear Watch New Mexico, listen as different people speak against plans to start pit production at LANL. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)