Home Care In Los Alamos, NM

In a year that exceeded expectations, a substantial amount of Los Alamos National Lab's radiological and hazardous waste from years past was permanently disposed of at off-site facilities — a move in step with the Lab's goal to mitigate hazards to workers, the community and the environment while sustaining the national security mission. What's more, the Lab’s off-site shipments of waste outpaced the rate of waste generation even as its mission to develop plutonium pits expanded.

In fiscal year 2023, the Lab generated 817 containers of transuranic (TRU) radioactive waste — such as protective clothing, tools and equipment contaminated from nuclear weapons research and production.

The Lab disposed of more containers than those generated, including TRU waste from previous years, for a total of 885 containers shipped off-site. The containers left the Lab in 68 shipments to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, New Mexico, the nation’s underground repository for defense-generated nuclear waste.

Removing old waste drums has been crucial for employees conducting work in the Plutonium Facility in TA-55 — on both the mission to produce at least 30 pits per year and nondefense plutonium missions, such as heat sources for NASA programs.

“Staff across TA-55, as well as packaging and transportation drivers, have been instrumental in the progress we’ve made shipping large amounts of waste off-site,” said Nestor Trujillo, group leader for Hazardous Material Shipping.

The Lab also sent 629 shipments of waste from other waste streams—more than 5,700 containers—to licensed off-site disposal facilities in FY23. This was done at a rate that far outpaced the approximately 2,000 containers of waste generated. These waste streams included:

“We continue to ship more waste than is generated, which reduces the amount of waste on-site and lessens any associated hazards to the environment, community and workforce,” said Pat Kennedy, group leader for Waste Management Services.

Not only did the past year see a significant amount of waste sent off site, but it was done in record time. According to Kennedy, there are “regulatory timelines for how long we can keep each type of waste on site,” as well as internal goals for those waste streams. “In fiscal year 2023, we exceeded all our goals,” he said.

“I can't stress enough how good of a year we had,” Kennedy added. “Waste is moving off site much faster than it used to be, which is great. The program and team mature annually, and we're constantly looking for process improvements.”

Foremost among the Lab's FY23 waste management accomplishments was its stellar safety record. The Lab received zero notices of violation from any of the 15 waste disposal facilities it uses or the Department of Transportation.

“This shows that people are really paying attention to what they're doing,” Kennedy said.

“I'm truly excited and proud to have the opportunity to lead the Waste Management division, implementing process improvements and increasing efficiency to deliver operational excellence,” said Ronnie Garcia, head of the division.

LA-UR-23-33048

New allegations from 2021 include contamination issues, flooding, improper staffing and dismissing hazardous waste protocols

As contractors at Los Alamos National Lab resolved allegations of mislabeling hazardous waste in 2020 after a New Mexico Environment Department inspection, federal overseers recently reported additional significant safety violations from 2021.

Triad National Security, LLC is a contractor that manages the national lab, including LANL’s plutonium weapons program. Triad is co-owned by the Battelle Memorial Institute, Texas A&M University System, and the University of California.

On May 31, Triad and New Mexico’s environment department agreed to a $20,000 settlement, after the agency alleged Triad violated state laws during a 2020 inspection.

Environment department inspectors said Triad failed to label containers of hazardous waste, universal waste batteries and free liquids. There was also a failure to provide secondary containers for free liquid hazardous waste. NMED issued a notice of violation nearly two years later in July 2022.

According to the settlement, Triad did not admit to any of the allegations, but paid the civil fine to “avoid further legal proceedings.”

Federal overseer flags 2021 safety violations

On May 25, the National Nuclear Security Administration issued a preliminary notice of violation after a series of events that occurred between February and July 2021 at LANL’s plutonium facility.

The NNSA, an arm of the U.S. Department of Energy, is responsible for the nation’s nuclear weapons. It oversees the national laboratories production, testing and development of the stockpile.

The NNSA labeled the five safety breaches against Triad and Los Alamos labs as “Severity Level II violations” with a high safety significance.

Level II violations “represent a significant lack of attention or carelessness towards responsibilities of (Department of Energy) contractors for the protection of public or worker safety,” according to a letter to Los Alamos labs director Thom Mason.

When asked how the public and workers can trust Triad in the wake of nuclear safety violations, a laboratory spokesman gave the following written statement.

“The Laboratory takes the incidents raised by the Department of Energy’s Office of Enterprise Assessments seriously and undertook corrective actions to address them when they occurred in 2021. We will continue to work closely with DOE EA as we prioritize the safety of our workers, the public, and the environment,” the written statement said.

Violations included an issue when fissionable materials were placed in a drop-box and violated “criticality” safety posting limits, which are to help prevent fission chain-reaction accidents.

A glovebox – which is supposed to allow people to handle dangerous materials – breached on March 3, 2021, allegedly contaminating three workers’ skin with radioactive material.

“Triad did not immediately recognize that a glove had breached and that a worker had contamination on their hands,” the federal violation notice said. “As a result, the worker spread contamination to surfaces, personal protective equipment, personal clothing and skin of some workers in the room.”

The NNSA cited staffing shortages, noting that one person was given four roles.

“With all these responsibilities and distractions, self-monitoring was not performed when the individual exited the glovebox,” the violation notice said. That allowed the contamination to spread to two other people before being detected.

On March 31, 2021 flooding occurred in a vault with fissionable materials.

NNSA said Triad failed to inform the lab’s operations center that the vault water bath required filling. During the process, Triad deviated from approved procedures by blocking open a spring-loaded valve, “bypassing its safety feature.”

“This ultimately caused water to overflow onto the vault floor because the worker was not present to close the valve,” the violation notice said.

A second flooding event on July 19, 2021 happened after work was inappropriately delegated to unqualified workers, the NNSA said. The workers did not manipulate the valves in the right sequence, and did not notify the LANL Operations Center property to respond to the alarms.

“These errors resulted in one of the valves being misaligned, allowing water to inadvertently enter the ventilation system,” the violation notice said.

The flooding included glovebox ventilations systems and a glovebox containing fissionable material. Triad issued a memo two years before cautioning that misaligned valves could flood the ventilation systems, NNSA noted in the letter.

NNSA said both flooding incidents shared a problem of insufficient staff to complete facility rounds.

The violations totaled more than half a million dollars, $571,187 to be exact. However, NNSA withheld $1.4 million from the Triad contract “in part for deficiencies related to the events,” the agency said it would not seek further civil penalty for the violations.

Triad is required to submit a written reply, which can contest the violations.

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LOS ALAMOS — New Mexico environment officials and the federal officials charged with overseeing the treatment of contaminated groundwater below Los Alamos told lawmakers Monday that cleanup has stopped and remains at an impasse.

“At this date, we do not have a path forward,” said Michael Mikolanis, who heads the Office of Environmental Management in Los Alamos, said during a Radioactive and Hazardous Waste Materials interim committee meeting.

The plume below the canyons

The hexavalent chromium plume was discovered in 2005. Chromium was used to line pipes to prevent rusting in the cooling towers for a power plant. Between 1956 and 1972, Los Alamos National Laboratory periodically flushed water down Sandia Canyon. It eventually seeped into the groundwater. The plume extends south of East Jemez Road toward San Ildefonso Pueblo.

NMED’s groundwater standard for chromium limits contamination to 50 parts per billion. Levels on the eastern edge of the plume showed concentrations at nearly 200 parts per billion, nearly four times the limit. Levels before treatment in the same area were at 300 parts per billion.

Hexavalent chromium – also called chromium-6 – can cause cancer if inhaled, but federal officials have not determined if it is classified as a carcinogen if ingested. A 2015 review by the National Institutes of Health noted there were “limited studies,” on the impacts of ingesting chromium-6 but linked to studies in China, noting higher rates of stomach cancer mortality in areas with higher chromium levels in aquifers.

State and federal officials agreed to the current method of treating the plume in 2015, after a year of disputes. The work plan included a series of wells to suck up the water, treat the water, and then pump treated water back into the aquifer. A similar plan was put forward in September last year.

An escalating disagreement over whether the data collected by the DOE on that treatment plan was sufficient, and concerns from state officials that the plan is further contaminating water brought cleanup to a halt in April, with no progress since.

Mikolanis said the changes to the plan are too extensive for an interim plan, and circumvent public approval requirements. NMED’s response is that the current plan may be worsening the plume, and the interim plan should change, while seeking a full remedy.

The cleanup stoppage on the chromium plume has meant the contamination has backslid, and potentially threatens drinking water for San Ildefonso Pueblo. San Ildefonso Pueblo officials did not respond to emailed requests for comment Monday.

Technical issues at the core of the dispute

The New Mexico Environment Department and the Department of Energy are currently in settlement discussions regarding the cleanup efforts but said they couldn’t provide any insight into those discussions or offer a timeline for resolution. Both said they thought the other was “acting in good faith,” and hoped lawsuits were unnecessary.

Rick Shean, the director at the Environment Protection Division at NMED, disagreed with Mikolanis’ assessment, telling lawmakers that reinjecting clean water at the current sites may be pushing chromium plume beyond detection areas.

“It will turn clean water — particularly under San Ildefonso — into contaminated water, because the plume will slip past the measures already in place to extract and clean it,” Shean said.

Mikolanis told Source NM his models do not support NMED’s conclusion.

“They have a hypothesis it’s pushing the plume down, there’s no evidence to show that we’re pushing the plume down, our model shows we’re containing it,” he said.

Shean told Source NM NMED doesn’t see evidence that the plume is being contained.

“It’s our interpretation of the data. We can sit in the same room and look at the same data and come to different conclusions,” Shean said.

Currently, Department of Energy officials said the plume does not threaten Los Alamos’ drinking water supplies. However, Los Alamos County shut down its highest producing groundwater well earlier this year because of its proximity to the plume, said Linda Matteson, the deputy county manager.

Mikolanis disputed that decision was solely made based on the plume’s proximity.

After a two-hour, often tense hearing, lawmakers agreed to direct the New Mexico Environment Department and the Department of Energy to contract with a third party to examine the DOE’s data and resolve the technical issues.

Mikolanis said the Department of Energy will make the funding available for hiring a third-party consultant. To ensure independence, he said the grant will be given to NMED to put out for bid.

Sen. Stefani Lord (R-Sandia Park) said she was dissatisfied with Mikolanis’ answers about the stoppage, saying that “that’s not a good answer to any of this stuff.” She asked if the DOE would restart water treatment within a year.

“I should hope by this time next year, we’ll resume the interim measure operation,” Mikolanis responded.

Rep. Christine Chandler (D-Los Alamos) said the conversation was always “in the weeds,” and had been since the discovery of the plume.

“Our conversation seems to just be constantly, just constantly disputes about where we should be drilling, what the appropriate corrective action is, et cetera,” she said.

Chandler asked Mikolanis in an exchange to define success, without going into the weeds.

“Tell me what real success is,” she asked.

“Real success is getting a remedy in place that’s going to get approval,” Mikolanis responded.

“And what outcome are we looking for?” Chandler prompted.

“We’re looking for clean water,” he said.

Triad National Security LLC, the management and operating contractor of Los Alamos National Laboratory, announces Jay Sures as its new chair of the board. Sures has served on the University of California Board of Regents since 2019, where he is chair of the Compliance and Audit Committee, and Vice Chair of the Health Services Committee. Sures is also the chair of Lawrence Livermore National Security LLC Board of Governors.

“We are grateful to have Jay at the helm of the Triad Board,” said Thom Mason, president and CEO of Triad, as well as director of Los Alamos National Lab. “He brings a wealth of experience and knowledge from his career as a business executive, as a UC Regent and his leadership at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He is a strong supporter of the Laboratory’s national security mission and a proven leader. We look forward to working with him as the board chair.”

“I am honored to serve as chair of the board,” said Sures. “Our national labs do critical work for the nation around science and national security, and I welcome the opportunity to ensure and continue the high quality and integrity of their missions.”

As the vice chair and one of the four managing directors at United Talent Agency, Sures spends the majority of his time overseeing the day-to-day operation of the company and directly oversees the agency’s television, news broadcasting and speakers divisions. UTA spans nine offices and 2,000 employees worldwide. Sures has been with the company since its inception in 1991.

Sures succeeds Michael Anastasio as chair of the Triad Board of Directors. Anastasio previously served as director for both Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories.

“I’m tremendously grateful for the leadership and support Michael has provided to the Triad Board over the past five years, which has been one of the most dynamic periods in Los Alamos National Laboratory’s history,” Mason said. “Although he’s no longer participating as a board member, Michael will remain a valuable asset to our institution in other ways.”

Triad National Security LLC is comprised of University of California, the Texas A&M University System and Battelle Memorial Institute. Collectively, the three partners bring more than 120 years of national laboratory management and operating experience dedicated to national service which enables Triad to manage and operate Los Alamos National Laboratory for the National Nuclear Security Administration and the Department of Energy.

Los Alamos National Laboratory was established in 1943 to conduct scientific research for the Manhattan Project, an allied effort that developed the world’s first atomic weapon. Located about 35 miles northwest of Santa Fe, LANL is a multi-program, federally funded research and development center for the National Nuclear Security Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy. LANL's priority roles are serving as a nuclear weapons design agency and a nuclear weapons production agency; addressing nuclear threats; and performing national security science, technology and engineering.

For Media inquiries contact: Claudia Russo (United Talent Agency) or Tricia Ware (Los Alamos National Laboratory)

Fast Facts

The Department of Energy's Environmental Management Site Office at Los Alamos is tasked with cleaning up contaminated soil and groundwater, and shipping nuclear and hazardous waste to offsite disposal areas.

The site office recently drafted new program management documents, including an updated cost estimate for the work. But it hasn't taken a comprehensive approach to prioritizing cleanup activities at the site. For example, the site office hasn't documented different options it can take to meet cleanup goals and, therefore, can't be assured it is best prioritizing these activities.

We recommended that DOE address this and other issues.

Building Awaiting Demolition and Cleanup at Los Alamos, NM

Highlights

What GAO Found

The Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM) site office at Los Alamos (EM-LA) has taken steps to establish elements of EM's Program Management Protocol, which contains requirements and expectations for planning, budgeting, executing, and evaluating all work within EM's program. As of March 2023, EM-LA officials said they had submitted program management documents for approval, including a life cycle cost estimate and risk management plan. However, EM-LA has not taken a comprehensive approach to prioritizing cleanup activities in a risk-informed manner. For example, EM-LA has not analyzed different options for achieving site cleanup objectives, as called for in GAO's risk-informed decision-making framework, including optimization analyses that could identify how to most efficiently meet cleanup milestones. Without a comprehensive framework for prioritizing cleanup activities, EM-LA cannot be assured that it is making optimal cleanup decisions.

Weaknesses in EM-LA's oversight of the Los Alamos contractor, which is responsible for the execution of cleanup activities at the site, have limited EM-LA's understanding of cleanup progress and costs. Specifically, the contractor did not meet deadlines to develop a final performance baseline and EM-LA did not use available mechanisms to compel compliance with this requirement. A performance baseline is a measure against which EM-LA can track ongoing cost, scope, and schedule progress. EM-LA officials said that part of the difficulty in developing a baseline was due to the many modifications needed after the contract was awarded. Nonetheless, the delay in finalizing a baseline had consequences, including preventing EM-LA from understanding how much of the work it contracted for in 2018 is complete and at what cost. Without an approved baseline going forward, EM-LA will not have the data it needs to track cleanup progress, which is crucial for effective contract management.

Example of Legacy Waste Cleanup at Los Alamos National Laboratory

Why GAO Did This Study

The federal government established the Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1943 to conduct nuclear weapons research and development activities to support our nation's defense. Over the years, these activities have necessitated cleanup in three areas: (1) soil and groundwater remediation, (2) legacy waste removal, and (3) deactivation and decommissioning of contaminated facilities.

In 2014, DOE established EM-LA to clean up waste at Los Alamos. To help address cleanup challenges at Los Alamos and other sites, EM issued a Program Management Protocol in 2020.

The Senate committee report that accompanied a bill for the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 includes a provision for GAO to, among other things, assess the status of cleanup at Los Alamos. This report examines issues including (1) the steps EM-LA has taken to implement EM's Program Management Protocol and (2) EM-LA's oversight of contractor performance. GAO reviewed EM-LA documents related to the Program Management Protocol and contractor oversight and interviewed EM and EM-LA officials.