In this week’s Update CCNS provides information about the upcoming commemorations of two harmful atomic events that both occurred in New Mexico on July 16th. The first is the 80th commemoration of the plutonium bomb test at the Trinity Test Site on July 16, 1945 at the White Sands Missile Range.

The Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, a group seeking justice for the harms downwinders have suffered through the generations from exposures to the Trinity Test, is sponsoring three occasions of commemoration on Wednesday, July 16th.  The day begins with the dedication of a permanent sign at the Stallion Gate Entrance to the White Sands Missile Range; then there will be a mass and dinner reception at the St. Francis de Paula Catholic Church in Tularosa; and last comes the 16th Annual Candlelight Vigil at the Tularosa Veterans Park.

The Candlelight Vigil will be livestreamed.  The link will be posted closer to the July 16th date.

For more information, please visit https://www.trinitydownwinders.com/

The second event is the 46th anniversary of the Church Rock Uranium Tailings Spill on July 16th, 1979 on the Navajo Nation.  The Red Water Pond Road Community invites you to attend a historic commemoration on Saturday, July 19th from 6 am to 4 pm, 12 miles north of Red Rock State Park on State Highway 566.   Breakfast and lunch will be provided under a shaded arbor.  After opening prayers, a walk to the spill location will take place.  There will also be speakers, educational tables, and a silent auction.

In 1968, the United Nuclear Corporation began mining operations in the largest underground uranium mine in the United States. Mining wastes were disposed of in three lined lagoons behind a dam that United Nuclear Corporation and state and federal agencies knew was subject to failure.  When, on July 16th, the dam was breached, 1,100 tons of uranium waste and 94 million gallons of radioactive water flowed into and contaminated about 80 miles of the Rio Puerco.  Many Navajos relied on the Puerco River for living and watering livestock.  Uranium workers, their families and others have suffered for decades because of the unremediated radioactive and chemical spill.

For more information, please visit https://swuraniumimpacts.org/

These are but two of the many upcoming commemorative events to remember those harmed by the atomic industries.

1. Thursday, June 26th from 4 to 5 pm MT – Union of Concerned Scientists invites you to a training webinar on how to submit a comment to ensure NNSA fully considers the public and environmental risks that come with planned expanded plutonium pit production.

Comment periods help increase transparency to the public, and it is crucial that the NNSA and the US Department of Energy hear from scientists, experts, and community members like you.  See UCS’s 4-page fact sheet at:  https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2025-05/Plutonium%20Pit%20Production_ES.pdf

Training webinar registration at:  https://secure.ucs.org/a/2025-6-26-peis-comment-training-2

1. Friday, June 27^th from noon to 1 pm – Join your neighbors and friends at the intersection of East Alameda and Sandoval for the weekly one-hour peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament and against expanded plutonium pit production at LANL. Join with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, New Mexico Peace Fest, Pax Christi and others. Bring your flags, signs and banners in support of nuclear weapons disarmament.

1. Watch the “Television Event” 2:13 minute trailer at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S5RGRsTwjM It is about the television movie of the week during about nuclear war during the Reagan administration.

1. Thursday, July 10^th from 12:30 pm to 5:30 pm ET; 10:30 am to 3:30 pm MT – From Trinity to Today: Nuclear Weapons and the Way Forward, a hybrid event hosted by the Arms Control Association and Win Without War.   Registration is required to attend. You can register to attend in-person or on-line

The Arms Control Association and Win Without War invite you to commemorate the 80^th anniversary of the atomic age through a three panel series that highlights the impacts of the bomb and showcases the role citizen campaigns have had in changing the course of nuclear history.

Join one or all the three panel series:

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  • Toxic and Radioactive Legacy of Nuclear Use, Production, Testing
  
  
  • The Role of Citizens in Reducing the Nuclear Danger
  
  
  • Today’s Nuclear Dangers/Consequences of Nuclear War
  
  
  
  

For more information and registration:  https://www.armscontrol.org/From_Trinity_to_Today

1. Friday, July 11^th from 6 pm MT to Saturday, July 12^th to 6 pm – Fourth Annual 24-hour Peace Wave – addressing the need to abolish nuclear weapons. Peace Wave is a 24-hour long Zoom featuring live peace actions in the streets and squares of the world, moving around the globe with the sun