Los Alamos County, N.M., is calling on the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to take responsibility for remediation of radioactive waste discovered last month off the property of the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Debris contaminated by uranium and plutonium was discovered Feb. 14 by a county contractor doing sewer line excavation for a planned low-income housing development near downtown Los Alamos, County Manager Harry Burgess said in a March 4 letter to Michael Weis, manager of the NNSA field office at the lab.
The debris was found around an old crucible in the vicinity of a former material disposal area. A local hazardous materials squad determined the material was not an imminent threat to public health and safety, although it has more than background level radiation. The material in question has since been placed in three drums and moved to another location for study, the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper reported Monday.
The contaminated material was found on a 28-acre parcel of land transferred in 2016 to the local government from the semiautonomous Department of Energy agency. The transfer deed states the parcel is “clean” and that the federal government retains responsibility for any “future hazardous materials” that turn up, Burgess said.
The area of concern is located on the far western edge of the parcel and the county does not yet know how the hazardous material was generated, Burgess said in a Wednesday email.
Triad National Security is the NNSA’s management and operations contractor for the storied nuclear-weapon facility. A separate contractor for the DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM), Newport News Nuclear BWXT Los Alamos (N3B), oversees legacy remediation operations on the 40-square-mile property.
In the letter, Burgess complimented Weis and the NNSA staff for their early efforts to protect public safety and secure the site since the hazardous material was unearthed by the contractor’s trenching operation. “I believe now is the appropriate time to formalize our efforts,” Burgess added.
The county manager wants the federal government to remove and remediate the hazardous materials; execute a formal access agreement to the site with the county to simplify remediation work; provide copies of various documents exchanged between the national laboratory and its state regulator, the New Mexico Environment Department; and continue collaboration.
It is important to move swiftly, Burgess said, because the affordable housing being developed needs to be ready for people to move in by Dec. 31.
An NNSA spokesperson said by email that “NNSA and EM are working with Los Alamos County officials to develop a path forward.”
The excavation area has been roped off, with placards indicating the hazard, Burgess said this week. Some 8-foot-high fencing was already in place, but Los Alamos National Laboratory staff has added additional fencing. Locked gates have also been installed.
“The trench and spoils piles have been covered with tarps and weighted down,” Burgess said in the email, adding two air monitoring stations have been installed.
The New Mexico Environment Department is seeking cooperation from both the NNSA and the Office of Environmental Management, along with their contractors at Los Alamos.
Kevin Pierard, the head of NMED’s Hazardous Waste Bureau, has apparently already received some federal records about the site. Pierard requested data in a Feb. 28 letter to the NNSA’s Weis and Doug Hintze, who has since retired as EM manager for Los Alamos.
The state wants documents on site history, potential sources of contamination, past sampling and analytical documents on the site, and information on what the federal authorities have done around the property since Feb. 14. The state agency also called for weekly status updates with the Los Alamos National Laboratory representatives.
The New Mexico Environment Department urged the federal government to respond by March 9. The Energy Department entities submitted hundreds of documents that are being reviewed by the state agency, NMED spokeswoman Maddy Hayden said via email Thursday.
“Your compliance with this information request is mandatory” as a permit holder under the New Mexico Hazardous Waste Act, the state official wrote in the letter. Pierard said NMED has the authority under the state law to issue a fine of up to $10,000 per day for noncompliance with the inquiry.
