Abstract

Environmental and peace activists are claiming a pair of preliminary victories in a battle over bringing Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3) labs to the nation's top nuclear weapons research facilities in Los Alamos, N.Mex., and Livermore, Calif. The two facilities would be the first built for US Department of Energy labs; about 250 BSL-3 facilities exist nationwide. First, a San Francisco federal district judge issued a stay on December 15 preventing operations from commencing at both of the two planned BSL-3 laboratories until at least May 15. Then, National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) officials announced on January 23 that they plan to repeat environmental analyses for the Los Alamos facility because of “new circumstances and information that were not considered in the original” assessment. Even though laboratory officials said the December 15 stay would have no impact on the scheduled openings—planned for early summer at Los Alamos and by September at Livermore—the environmental groups said the order showed federal judge Saundra B. Armstrong takes their concerns seriously. They also say the decision to perform a repeat analysis was in response to pressure from their lawsuit, while NNSA officials in Los Alamos say it has nothing to do with the