Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement Facility

[1] The facility is controversial both because of spiraling costs and because critics argue it will allow for expanded production of plutonium 'pits' and therefore could be used to manufacture new nuclear weapons.

According to Los Alamos officials, "many of the CMR facility systems and structural components are aged, outmoded, eroding, and generally deteriorating."

There is evidence the need for an upgrade is real, since in 2010 federal safety auditors reported the building was "seismically fragile and poses a continuing risk to workers and the public.

It is a very complex building, featuring NNSA Security Category 1 laboratory space and a total of approximately 306 enclosures, 26 fume hoods and 43 sections of Material Transfer System (MTS).

Detractors also argue against the un-justified capabilities to produce new plutonium pits, which constitute the core and active component of nuclear weapons.

An Institute for Defense Analyses report written before 2008 estimated a “future pit production requirement of 125 per year, with a surge capability of 200.

[16] On August 16, 2010, the Los Alamos Study Group filed a lawsuit against the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) which states that the original environmental impact statement (EIS) completed in 2003, with a record of decision (ROD) in 2004, is not a legitimate EIS for the current design and is a direct violation of the NEPA.

[4][17] NNSA decided to complete a new "Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement" on the project, but LASG refused to drop the suit.

[18] NNSA officials—without any public review—revamped the design of the CMRR-NF, using what they describe as a multi-functional “hotel concept” that can be used in the future for a range of unspecified nuclear weapons activities.

[4] The lawsuit claimed this was a violation of the National Environmental Policy Act and noted "The decision to leave 14 million cubic feet of nuclear and chemical waste in shallow unlined disposal pits covered by this material would be a major federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment, with far-reaching impacts.