Comments are DUE TODAY on proposed new plutonium pit production - DOE/EIS-0573

[Ellen Thomas]

We have until midnight tonight to file our comments on new plutonium pit production with the Department of Energy.  

I used this excellent site to prepare the following comments which I just sent to the DOE re Environmental Impact Statement #0573.  Be sure to use "DOE/EIS-0573" in your comments.

I'd love to see what you send!

Ellen Thomas

-------- Forwarded Message --------

Subject:	My comments, due today, on proposed new plutonium pit production - DOE/EIS-0573
Date:	Thu, 16 Jul 2026 12:25:34 -0400
From:	Ellen Thomas <e...@prop1.org>
To:	Pit...@nnsa.doe.gov

I agree with everything that has been filed by member organizations of the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability re new plutonium pit production and the Department of Energy's EIS-0573.  

I'm currently co-chair of the Disarm/End Wars Committee of Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, US Section, an ANA member, and am director of the Proposition One Campaign for a Nuclear-Free Future. 

I have been working for a world without nuclear weapons for the past 42+ years.  I helped launch the successful DC Initiative 37 campaign which led to the "Nuclear Weapons Abolition and (Economic) Conversion Act" introduction in the House of Representatives every session since 1994 (HR-1888 this year), calling for the United States to agree to global nuclear abolition, earmarking the money saved for providing carbon-free, nuclear-free energy, environmental restoration, and other human needs. 

We need to REVERSE the arms race. 

Since I began my full-time endeavor in 1984, the world has been inching away from a 1986 high of 70,300 active nuclear weapons, to 12,187 total nuclear warheads in the world today.  We need to keep going!

It's taken an incredibly long time, but we HAVE made progress.  There is now a Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons that has been signed by 100 countries, and ratified by 75.  Our country should reach out to the other nuclear weapons states, existing and potential, to let them know we want to reverse the trend, we will sign and ratify the TPNW if they will, we will get rid of ours if everyone else does.  We must negotiate in good faith, must stop making wars and imposing sanctions to try to force compliance, and instead set a good example.  

Making new plutonium pits now is a VERY bad idea, and NOT necessary!

The U.S. currently has over 1,770 nuclear weapons deployed, 1,930 stockpiled warheads, and 1,142 scheduled to be "retired", PLUS 15,000 fully usable plutonium pits in storage at Amarillo, Texas with another 60-plus years of usability.  The Federation of American Scientists and Union of Concerned Scientists' information shows:

Most existing U.S. plutonium cores (pits) were manufactured between 1952 and 1989 at the former Rocky Flats Plant in Colorado. This puts the average age of the current stockpile at roughly 35 to 40 years old. 
• Long-term studies—such as those conducted by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and independent scientific groups (like JASON)—conclude that most pit types have reliable service lives stretching well past a century, meaning they are not near immediate risk of age-related failure. 

The United States, instead of continuing with its $1.7 trillion "nuclear modernization" burden on American taxpayers, should realize that we live in a new world -- doubly dangerous, because instead of investing in addressing climate change our government is forever preparing for and making war.  

If we DON'T change our priorities, if nukes don't wipe us out, the weather will.

I'm writing you as a grandmother.  I beg you, stop the plans to produce new plutonium pits.  They're not needed, and we need to let the world know that the United States is interested in ending the arms race, now!
Ellen Thomas
401 Wilcox Road, Tryon, NC 28782 
e...@prop1.org 
202-210-3886 cell

Virus-free.www.avg.com

[Linda Cataldo Modica]

At the same site that Ellen has recommended, ICAN has created a comment template that you can modify or just sign and send: 

https://www.icanw.org/no_new_plutonium_pits

Thank you for taking the time to comment on this outrageous plan for new plutonium pits,

Linda.

PS to Ellen: I commented as a grandmother too. 

Linda Cataldo Modica

Pura Vida

_____________________
This message was sent to you from the disarm.committee.wilpf list.
* List homepage: https://groups.electricembers.net/lists/info/disarm.committee.wilpf

* Sent to you at: lcmo...@aol.com
* Quick unsubscribe: https://groups.electricembers.net/lists/auto_signoff/disarm.committee.wilpf?email=lcmodica%40aol.com