The New Mexico Environment Department expects the Department of Energy will start work this spring cleaning up contaminated land along DP Road, just outside the Los Alamos National Laboratory, a state spokeswoman said this week.
The DOE and legacy cleanup contractor Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos submitted the preliminary screening plan on Dec. 21 to Kevin Pierard, head of the Hazardous Waste Bureau for the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED), according to the cover letter for the federal plan.
“The results of this study will determine if hazardous waste contamination is present at levels that are unacceptable and require cleanup and therefore bring the site under NMED jurisdiction,” NMED spokeswoman Maddy Hayden said in an email.
The radiological contamination at the site is still overseen and managed by DOE directly, Hayden added.
NMED provided comments to the DOE on Jan. 29 and is awaiting a revised plan that addresses the state’s feedback, Hayden said. DOE plans to start the field work this spring which will take approximately six months to complete, she added.
The Los Alamos county manager, Harry Burgess, said by phone Monday he likes what he sees in the preliminary screening plan by DOE because it allows much cleanup to occur while environmental screening takes place.
The work plan is meant to determine the nature and extent of the contamination discovered a year ago outside the boundary of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, according to the document.
The state agency has accused DOE of dragging its feet in addressing the radioactive contamination. The plan was requested by the state in April. For its part DOE has said its Environmental Management office as well as the semi autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration at Los Alamos are moving as fast as the COVID-19 pandemic will allow.
In February 2020 a subcontractor digging up a utility line for Los Alamos County discovered contaminated debris about seven feet below ground just off DP Road. The contaminated wood and other debris was found on a 28-acre tract of property DOE transferred to the county in 2018 after finding it was fully remediated.
The county’s utility crew was preparing to install a new sewer line to serve two new housing complexes. A hazardous materials team and the Los Alamos Fire Department went to the scene and determined there was no imminent threat, although there was radiation present beyond background levels, according to the DOE document. Likewise, a DOE crew dispatched to the site found evidence of plutonium and uranium contamination. A fence was put up around the debris.
