US nuclear weapon production sites violated environmental rules, federal judge decides

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) -- A U.S. Judge has ruled that the National Nuclear Security Administration failed to properly evaluate its expansion of plutonium pit production at two sites in New Mexico and South Carolina in violation of environmental regulations. Environmental groups on Thursday have applauded the ruling. South Carolina-based Judge Mary Geiger Lewis says U.S. nuclear weapons regulators neglected to properly consider the combined effects of their two-site production strategy for the components of nuclear warheads. The lawsuit challenged a plan consummated in 2018 for two pit production sites at Savannah River and Los Alamos National Laboratory. The first new plutonium pit from Los Alamos was certified this week for deployment.