When we subcontract our military and space programs, perhaps we shouldn't be surprised to see "surge pricing".

Just as the US is poised to see a huge increase in nuclear waste production from Pu pit production, the people responsible for handling it are gone. Per GAO, DOE-Environmental Management has 45% vacancy. All the facility oversight positions at WIPP are vacant. What could go wrong?

A final public hearing on the environmental impacts from plutonium pit production will occur in Washington DC, Weds, May 20th, 2pm, Southwest Library, Large Meeting Room 900 Wesley Pl, SW, Washington, DC 20024

A recent hearing in North Augusta, South Carolina drew large local opposition to new nuclear warhead production in and around their communities. By: @tkbarnes.bsky.social inkstickmedia.com/rare-referen...

There's opportunities for the crop of progressive candidates winning state and local office to challenge endless war, even if they aren't the ones who vote on the Pentagon budget. Example? This sharp resolution from Georgia lawmakers opposing warhead production: www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/...

This is a good and important read on the decline of.. well, everything in the US.

Check out this video based on an article UCS Global Security Program Senior Scientist Dylan Spaulding was interviewed for on plutonium pit production issues. You can make a difference: pledge to be a voice for peace and science.

“Apart from the facility's existing seismic qualifications, it's not clear that this particular building offers any advantage over alternatives that could have, and should have, been considered [under NEPA]”, Spaulding said.

We held a press conference at the S.C. state capitol this morning, following a tour of the Savannah River Site plutonium pit facility yesterday. Comments here:

“The claim that we need new pits just to maintain a safe and reliable arsenal just doesn’t hold water,” scientist Dylan Spaulding wrote... “The reality is NNSA has thousands of existing plutonium pits in reserve and should investigate options for re-use before one more pit is produced.”

It’s environmental impact season at the NNSA and with the recent release of both the Los Alamos site-wide analysis as well as the Programmatic EIS for plutonium pit production, there’s a lot to talk about and a lot to take issue with. Here’s an interview I did with @federalnewsnetwork.com

Trump’s proposed 2027 budget would almost double the budget for plutonium pits, the chemical filled metal sphere inside a nuclear warhead that kicks off the explosion in a nuclear weapon. @evystadium.bsky.social has more. Story by @mjgault.bsky.social: www.404media.co/trump-2027-b...

After visiting the Savannah River Site, I can confirm that what stands out is how little there is to show after more than $10B has been poured into the site, first for MOX, now for pits. It remains an empty shell with a long, challenging road to being productive.

Thanks to @mjgault.bsky.social for covering the many issues facing plutonium pit production.

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright on plutonium pit production: "Maybe the original plan we laid out wasn't ideal, maybe we could be smarter.” Its also full-speed ahead at LANL, which will be asked to operate at or near max capacity for the foreseeable future, which is dangerous and unnecessary.

“It’s disappointing to see the NNSA pushing out a legal fig leaf, with what amounts to a belated justification for decisions taken years before, which violates the intent and purpose of such analyses under the National Environmental Policy Act.”

Today Gen. Guetlein, head of Trump's infeasible, wildy expensive Golden Dome anti-missile program, said this: "If boost phase intercept from space is not affordable and scalable, we will not produce it because we have other options to get after it.” armedservices.house.gov/calendar/eve...

Federal plan would boost Los Alamos plutonium pit production to at least 80 a year, triggering 50-year impacts and public review.

Primary season used to be about comparing the professional merits of the candidates. Apparently now, its just about waiting to see which ones have the least horrific histories of misconduct until the slate is down to 1.

Just appreciating these two posts next to each other. Peak Bluesky, at least in my eccentric feed.

Apparently some are not familiar with the story: Croesus of Lydia asked the Oracle what would happen once he attacked Iran. Oracle predicted: "a great civilization will die". Of course it turned out that the one that died was Lydia, not Iran. Seems relevant...

A statement from our team at @ucs.org on today’s dangerous rhetoric:

If you need an extra nudge or some guidance for how to reach your representatives, please check out this action alert from the Union of Concerned Scientists:

Even Marjorie Taylor Green is calling for invocation of the 25th ammendment, but my Democratic congresswoman, @dorismatsui.bsky.social? Silence for the past two days. Extraordinarily frustrating and shameful.

Because we all need something amazing today. #artemisII

Public comment opportunity to oppose new uranium mining and exploration in New Mexico:

Le Monde informed the Bulletin about the image on March 19. I wrote a detailed visual and technical analysis supporting my assessment that the cargo may have been highly enriched uranium. (8/n) @thebulletin.org #Iran #nuclearweapons #uranium #OSINT #nukesky

Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot

"Dylan Spaulding with the Union of Concerned Scientists decried both the near doubling of energy and water use that could come with the expansion and the potential impacts on Puebloan cultural sites via the addition of “a parking lot, bus transfer station, and several solar energy installations.”

".. the US military is approximately a month, or less, away from running out of ATACMS/PrSM ground-attack missiles and THAAD interceptors. Israel is in an even more precarious spot, with its Arrow interceptor missiles likely to be completely expended by the end of March."

No... no, we're not. This headline is horribly misleading and dangerous. I know its the Washington Times, but still.. even the story says "no decision has yet been made to move ahead." No one who actually understands testing is taking these considerations seriously and stories like this don't help.

Today, LANL released their final Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement, outlining plans for expansion over roughly the next decade. Its a big document and I'm still digging, but here are my first impressions:

The more we look, the more we find the building blocks of life in space. Not surprising, given how much comes out of a Miller-Urey type experiment. Still doesn’t mean putting these pieces together in a self-replicating manner is easy or common. Still, perhaps a reminder to be humble?

My amazing @scovillepf.bsky.social @seantmanning.bsky.social has a new @ucs.org piece on what he appropriately calls Trump's "Bloody New Deal," i.e., his proposal to dump $1.5 trillion into military spending, a massive 66% increase. See: blog.ucs.org/sean-manning...

My colleague, Dr. Sara Al-Sayed, presents clear-eyed historical context around US and Isreali intervention in Iran and the resulting nuclear hypocrisy. "For any chance of lasting peace in the region, the United States and Israel must eventually move toward diplomacy and multilateral approaches"

He added that only Israel stood to gain materially by overthrowing the Islamic Republic, and had little concern about who governs Iran subsequently. "This is an uncomfortable truth to tell... America has lost control of its own foreign policy. But it must be told."

"A three-year-old energy company that appears to have fewer than five employees is being considered for a $25 billion contract from a massive trade deal President Donald Trump brokered with Japan last year.. The company... is largely unknown...[and has] never completed a nuclear project"

Grossi: “At the end of this war, Iran will still have nuclear material and enrichment capacities” The Iranians came to the table, both for the JCPOA and right up until the present war. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/18/ignorance-misunderstanding-obfuscation-iran-nuclear-talks-trump

"The US spent $11.3bn on just the first week of its military assault on Iran. This huge expenditure dwarves the annual budgets of many of the public health and scientific agencies the Trump administration has sought to cut, raising stark questions about the country’s priorities."

This is both appalling and not at all surprising. While the administration is spending more than $1B/day attacking Iran, administration officials are profiting at home from insider trading and defense contracts, including Golden Dome money.

Finnish Defense Minister: amending the Nuclear Energy Act “is necessary to enable Finland's military defense as part of the alliance and to take full advantage ofNATO's deterrence and collective defence”.

Surely just a coincidence, right?

Rubio's recent invocation of Chiang Kai-shek in reference to Iran come just before a much-anticipated US-Chinese summit and will only further undermine any possibility of constructive dialogue. Careless words from a bungling administration. See my colleague @gkucs.bsky.social's take on it here:

"Israeli defense minister Israel Katz said on Thursday that the decision to assassinate the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was taken in November, far predating the breakdown in the nuclear programme negotiations that Donald Trump claimed led to the US launching a preemptive strike on Iran."

This is a significant turning point and potentially just the start of a nuclear snowball that the US has set in motion due to its actions in Iran.

Kick the can down the road, by which time costs will inevitably be higher, there will be new unknowns, and greater incentive for Congress to swallow the sunk-cost fallacy. Delays also mean a costly MMIII refurbishment (which was previously deemed impossible in order to justify Sentinel's approval).

This is the best take I've seen on the recent US allegation of Chinese nuclear tests. There are obvious reasons for concern, but the burden of proof is not yet met. At the same time, the need for transparency around activities at the test sites has never been higher and would be provided by the CTBT

My wonderful @scovillepf.bsky.social @seantmanning.bsky.social has a great story in @inkstickmedia.com about biking alongside interstates during COVID. Those interstates could soon be carrying new plutonium "pits" - the radioactive core used in a new nuclear weapon: inkstickmedia.com/every-day-nu...

The court has found both Yoon Suk-yeol and former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun guilty of insurrection.

The New Mexico Environment Department is pushing back on Los Alamos to prioritize remediation of its existing waste. This is good news for neighboring communities who bear the burden of the lab’s past and present impacts and who fear the future ones.