By Mary Howard, WILPF Atlanta Branch member, Anne Henny, WILPF East Bay Branch member, and Arla S. Ertz, WILPF San Francisco Branch member
“To the village square we must take the facts of atomic energy.
From these must come America’s voice.”
Albert Einstein
In May 2026, members of WILPF’s Atlanta, East Bay, and San Francisco branches participated in a nationwide effort to oppose the US government’s plan to produce new plutonium pits for nuclear weapons.
Plutonium is a rare element in nature, typically produced as a byproduct when enriched uranium undergoes nuclear fission in reactors. Extracting plutonium from spent uranium fuel is a highly toxic process that generates significant amounts of radioactive waste.
Nuclear weapons rely on a plutonium pit, or core, to initiate the nuclear explosion. Since the 1989 FBI raid that shut down the Rocky Flats plutonium pit factory in Colorado for environmental violations, no new pits have been manufactured. Will we confront our past mistakes, or rush to repeat them as plans for a new nuclear arsenal move forward?
These testimonies below were part of a series of public hearings organized by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to gather input on the draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for the proposed nationwide expansion of plutonium pit production. WILPF members joined with allies, including Tri-Valley Cares, Western States Legal Foundation, Nuclear Watch New Mexico, Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, and others, presenting strong, united opposition to plutonium pit production.
This PEIS process is the result of a lawsuit brought by Tri-Valley CAREs, Savannah River Site Watch, and Nuclear Watch New Mexico. A PEIS is mandated by law under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). A federal judge ruled that the Department of Energy (DOE) and NNSA had violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by failing to analyze the nationwide environmental impacts of new plutonium pit production plans. As a result, DOE and NNSA were ordered to draft a PEIS and hold public hearings in five cities: Santa Fe, New Mexico; North Augusta, South Carolina; Kansas City, Missouri; Livermore, California; and Washington, DC.
Members of the public are encouraged to submit their own written comments on the draft PEIS through July 16. Comments can be emailed to pitpeis@nnsa.doe.gov.
Resources are available to guide participation and amplify opposition to the expansion of plutonium pit production:
Plutonium Pit Production: The Risks and Costs of US Plans to Build New Nuclear Weapons
WILPF Members Speak Out: South Carolina, California, and New Mexico Testimonies
North Augusta, SC
WILPF Atlanta Branch member Mary Howard provided testimony on the draft PEIS at the May 5 hearing in North Augusta, SC. Millions of gallons of nuclear waste are stored in tanks worldwide, including 35 million gallons in aging, 70-year-old tanks at the Savannah River Site (SRS) on the South Carolina side of the Savannah River.
The proposed pit production project at SRS is just one aspect of the outlined plan for the expansion of plutonium pit production.
Read Mary’s testimony below:
On behalf of the Atlanta branch of the US section of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF US), we thank you for holding this hearing and submit our comments concerning the DOE/NNSA’s draft PEIS for plutonium pit production.
Since 1915, WILPF US has advocated for domestic and international issues, bringing issues of concern in the US to WILPF International in support of peace and freedom globally.
Plutonium pit production directly opposes WILPF US’s mission. We urge that this project be stopped and pit production eliminated. The PEIS must recognize the unmitigable dangers this project poses to humanity and all forms of life.
Industrial activity already threatens the ecosystems along the river. The area is designated as a Superfund Site and is on the National Priorities List. Any further activity, such as the proposed pit production at SRS, will only exacerbate threats to the region’s biodiversity and beauty. We fear the entire ecosystem surrounding SRS will be destroyed.
We are also concerned about the proposed transport of old pits from the Pantex facility in Amarillo, Texas, to SRS; the movement of radioactive transuranic waste from SRS to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico; and the shipment of uranium byproducts to Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Many of these routes cross the Atlanta metro area, putting Atlantans and countless others at risk. Accidents involving hazardous materials on highways are not uncommon.
How does pit production enhance the environment? Isn’t environmental protection the very purpose of the National Environmental Policy Act? The express purpose of nuclear weapons is to destroy the environment. What could prevent a common-sense understanding that any PEIS for the NNSA’s proposed pit production project must be denied?
There is much about this project that defies logic. First, the NNSA is undermining its own mission of nonproliferation by pursuing plutonium pit production. Reducing the US nuclear stockpile from over 31,000 warheads in the 1960s to just over 5,000 today is a major accomplishment. An agency dedicated to nuclear security would seeking to reverse this trend by producing a new generation of warheads is Orwellian—and certainly not an appropriate activity for such an organization.
The pit production project runs counter to the spirit of NEPA and undermines US commitments under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The vast majority of US citizens want future generations to enjoy life on Earth in all its beauty and diversity. Their lives matter. Our lives matter. Life matters.
Because nonproliferation is a stated goal of the NNSA, and environmental protection is the purpose of NEPA, this project must be stopped. No new pits! Continue reducing our stockpile and eliminating pit production!
Again, we appreciate the opportunity to offer comments on this life-and-death matter. Protecting life on Earth—and honoring our responsibility to those who come after us—requires action to halt and reverse the pit production program.
We are grateful to the South Carolina Environmental Law Project for representing SRS Watch, and to other concerned groups for protecting our right to be heard and ensuring that our comments are recorded as part of the historical record.
Respectfully submitted,
Atlanta branch of the US section of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
[Mary credits much of her understanding of this issue and language for these comments to Glenn Carroll at Nuclear Watch South, the Union of Concerned Scientists, and Jasmine Owens at the Physicians Committee for Social Responsibility.]
Livermore, CA
In Livermore, California, on May 12, Anne Henny of the East Bay Branch delivered a statement strongly opposing new plutonium pit production, echoing the concerns of dozens of other speakers. During her testimony, Anne stated, “In grade school I learned about the global nuclear arms race and, with a child’s honesty, understood that nuclear weapons cannot make us safe or bring lasting peace.” She continued, “Nuclear deterrence only works—until it doesn’t. We cannot build REAL peace by continuing to invest precious resources—resources that are desperately needed to meet human needs—in weapons of mass destruction. The world needs nuclear disarmament, not MORE nuclear weapons.” Read Anne’s full statement here. A video recording of the May 12 public hearing in Livermore is also available from Tri-Valley Cares.
Santa Fe, NM
Two days later, on May 14, Arla S. Ertz from the San Francisco Branch gave an in-person oral comment at another public hearing in Santa Fe, New Mexico, attended by over 200 people in person and online. She joined others from Nuclear Watch New Mexico, Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, and The Plutonium Trail Caravan to comment on the NNSA’s draft PEIS. Below is Arla’s Santa Fe testimony:
Good evening, everyone. My name is Arla S. Ertz. I am a resident of San Francisco, CA, and a member of WILPF (Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom).
Many who have already commented here, and no doubt in other venues, have presented you with detailed factual information pertinent to the issue at hand in these hearings, so I need not repeat any of that information, however compelling it may be. Rather, I am here to implore you to reach down inside yourself as you weigh the impact of your decision regarding pit production expansion.
As you look into your heart of hearts, realize and know that proceeding with plutonium pit production will not protect or defend our nation, but instead will damage—or even destroy—it. Pit production will harm the earth, air, water, plants, animals, and your fellow human beings—all of us.
Here in New Mexico, we are acutely and painfully aware that the waste, including plutonium, from Los Alamos National Laboratory, which sits majestically above us, has already trickled into the historic—and we hope life-sustaining—Rio Grande, causing alarming contamination. We are aware that this impacts agriculture, drinking water, recreation, and more as the river flows to lands below, including Native territory.
I am aware that you may feel bound by a congressional mandate to proceed. But as you make your decision about the negative impacts of your action, depending on the decision you make with the power that you hold, please be mindful that just as members of the military are not to follow orders that they know are wrong, so must you act from your conscience and make your decision based on affirming life, not contamination, pollution, and harm. Remember that production of plutonium pits is illegal under international law ever since the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons went into force on Jan. 22, 2021.
So honor what is sacred—the earth, nature, human beings, and life itself—in your deliberations, for if you don’t, surely, your soul will shrivel like a raisin in the sun.
Thank you for deeply and truly considering our comments with the utmost seriousness.
