SAVE THE DATE: Public Hearing @ Plutonium Pits for New Nuclear Weapons on 5/5/26
Glenn Carroll
Plutonium Pit Production Alert!
Spread the word! The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration wants to resume production of "plutonium pits" — the trigger inside a nuclear warhead — at Savannah River Site, near Augusta, GA. But since they work for us, they are legally required to conduct an Environmental Impact Study (EIS) and submit it to the public for comment. Similar proposals have been shot down several times in the past by citizen opposition. This is a rare and historic opportunity to confront nuclear weapons on the public record!
Five public hearings have been announced around the country. The first one is in North Augusta, South Carolina, on Tuesday, May 5, from 5:00 to 8:00 pm. Comments will be accepted from both in-person and virtual attendees. Comments are also being accepted online at the NNSA website and by email to Pit...@nnsa.doe.gov through July 16, 2026.
To attend in person:
North Augusta Community Center
495 Brookside Dr.
North Augusta SC 29841
5:00-5:30pm Open House Poster Session
5:30-8:00pm Formal Public Hearing
To attend online:
https://bit.ly/PitPEIS5May
Meeting ID: 267 103 716 263 892
Passcode: Wb2RJ9zA
Join by Phone: 571-429-4592
Phone conference ID: 297 381 326#
The hearing in South Carolina is one of only two hearings with a virtual participation option. Although plutonium pit production in South Carolina is a certain threat to the local environment, nuclear weapons are a global issue and every single person on Earth has a stake in seeing that they are not produced, stockpiled or used EVER. Please add your voice to protect our planet and our future from a new nuclear arms race!
Background: Plutonium, the most toxic substance on Earth, is an unnatural element created by fissioning uranium in nuclear reactors. It has a half-life of 24,000 years and a hazardous life of 240,000 years. The United States has thousands of plutonium pits deployed and in storage, many from decommissioned nuclear warheads, but has not mass-produced them since the 1989 FBI raid shut down the Rocky Flats plant in Colorado for contaminating its own workers and the surrounding countryside for decades. The NNSA's Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) concludes that this can't possibly happen at Savannah River Site, a former nuclear weapons plant which is already highly contaminated. Plutonium pits are currently being produced on a small scale at Los Alamos in New Mexico.
Resuming pit production is part of a $1.5-trillion "modernization" of the U.S. nuclear arsenal championed by recent Democratic and Republican administrations alike. The NNSA proposal claims new plutonium pits are needed to ensure our existing stocks of nuclear weapons will function properly — a euphemism for global annihilation in a thermonuclear holocaust. However, the new pits are designed for use not in existing systems such as the Minuteman II land-based ICBM missiles, but in the next-generation Sentinel missiles intended to replace them.
U.S. taxpayers are currently investing $100,000 per minute on our nuclear arsenal. But despite the hype about nuclear threats from Russia, China, and North Korea, in reality it is "defense" industry lobbying that drives the newly revived nuclear arms race. As usual, the other nations in the race are only trying to keep up.
Nuclear Watch South and many other organizations are spreading the word about this important opportunity to speak up for nuclear disarmament. Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) is currently analyzing the 600-page EIS and will produce fact sheets and tips for making your comments. Stay tuned for updates!
UCS press release has good information: U.S. Nuclear Agency Releases Environmental Impact Statement, a “Legal Fig Leaf” for Plutonium Pit Program Decisions
UCS is offering a free screening of Half-Life of Memory: America's Forgotten Atomic Bomb Factory on April 28 at 6PM. The one-hour film about Rocky Flats is very instructive of what is at stake with plutonium pit production and will be followed by a discussion with the filmmaker and other experts. Register at the link.
Download Nuclear Watch South's trifold brochure Plutonium Made Simple.
Finally, here is a link to the Plutonium Pit Production Facility Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement:
https://www.energy.gov/nepa/doeeis-0573-plutonium-pit-production-multiple-locations
The Environmental Impact Statement is required by law to analyze all foreseeable impacts of a proposed activity. But the draft EIS fails to contemplate, for instance, the environmental effects of using the nuclear weapons that contain plutonium pits! The EIS gives us a forum to remind our leaders what the effects of nuclear weapons would be and to demand that they consider the impacts of nuclear war, radiation, nuclear winter, disiintegrated cities, wasted farm land, poisoned water, and YOU NAME IT. Speak up for life and our children's future!
FOR THE EARTH,
Glenn
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Coordinator
Nuclear Watch South
P.O. Box 8574
Atlanta, GA 31106
atom...@nonukesyall.org
404-378-4263
404-432-8727 cell
https://www.nonukesyall.org
