The Department of Energy’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said last week it is preparing a programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS) for producing the fissile cores of the nation’s nuclear weapons, or plutonium pit production.
As part of the environmental review, required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), NNSA must open the review to public comment. Any interested parties such as individuals, tribes, public interest groups, businesses, and local elected representatives can submit comments on the draft for NNSA consideration.
Comments are open until midnight on July 16, and can include written or verbal comments at one of the five in-person public scoping hearings, two of which including a virtual option. The two meetings with a virtual option are on May 7 and May 14, and all meeting information can be found here.
The PEIS is a result of a court case settlement between a host of environmental groups and the federal government, wherein the plaintiff public interest groups said NNSA and DOE were violating NEPA by producing plutonium pits without conducting a proper environmental review.
The agreement from January 2025 requires NNSA to produce a new programmatic environmental impact statement within two-and-a-half years. Until that is complete in a process that would include public hearings nationwide and public comment on the draft of the statement, NNSA would not be able to process nuclear material at Savannah River’s plutonium facility.