During the question and answer period, Nuclear Watch New Mexico executive director Jay Coghlan said he was fascinated to hear that there was some funding allocated for a new SWEIS.
“The last one was in 2008 and it’s woefully outdated. To use NEPA terms, there’s a lot of new information and changed circumstances,” Coghlan said. “…And then there’s the question of the scope of the SWEIS, which would by definition imply it should consider the full range of issues from cleanup to pit production. What more can be said about a new SWEIS for Los Alamos (National Laboratory) at this time because as far as I know this is the first inkling whatsoever that there will be a new one?”
BY MAIRE O’NEILL, LOS ALAMOS REPORTER | January 6, 2022 losalamosreporter.com
While officials at one of the nation’s top nuclear weapons laboratories promise to focus on cleaning up Cold War-era contamination, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) estimates it could be 2036 before the cleanup is complete at New Mexico’s Los Alamos National Laboratory.