A legally enforceable order to clean up environmental
contamination at the University of California-managed Los Alamos
National Laboratory was signed last week after nearly two years of
negotiations.
The order of consent made March 1 between the New Mexico
Environment Department, the U.S. Department of Energy and the UC
requires comprehensive investigation and cleanup of environmental
contamination, including cleanup of material disposal areas, ground
water and other areas of contamination by the lab.
“The order provides a clear path forward for cleaning up
the environment. We are happy to have reached an agreement based on
trust with the state of New Mexico,” said Los Alamos
spokeswoman Kathy Delucas.
Lab director Pete Nanos said in a statement that the order will
help meet the lab’s commitment to protecting the safety of
the its employees and of the surrounding environment.
The agreement sets a timetable for completion of the cleanup by
2015, well beyond the reach of the UC’s current management
contract of the lab.
After operating Los Alamos for more than half a century, the
UC’s management contract expires in September of this year,
and the UC Board of Regents has not announced whether it would seek
for a renewal of the contract.
UC officials declined to comment on how the
environmental-cleanup agreement will affect the regents’
decision on the management contract. The board is not expected to
vote for the renewal until after a final request for proposals is
released by the U.S. Department of Energy.
Nuclear Watch of New Mexico, an organization that works to
inform the public on nuclear issues and encourage greater
environmental protection, announced it would bid for management of
the lab.
Scott Kovac, operations director of Nuclear Watch of New Mexico,
said they are strongly in favor of the order to clean up.
“We look forward to the opportunity to clean up Los Alamos
National Laboratory. We would do it as quickly as possible,”
Kovac said.
Kovac added that his organization is concerned that standards
used to clean up the land may not be high enough and that many
contaminated places should be cleaned up to agricultural standards
instead of the industrial standards that the order calls for.
The order for cleanup was based on information that past actions
by the Los Alamos lab have caused hazardous waste to be released
into the environment and that an estimated 1,900 sites at the lab
currently require corrective action.
UC officials have said they followed required cleanup processes
in a draft order issued by state officials last year while the
state and the university negotiated the final agreement.
Since 1945 the lab has created, treated, stored, and disposed of
hazardous and radioactive wastes, some of which have created
environmental contamination in the surrounding land and water,
according to the New Mexico Environment Department.
In a statement, New Mexico Lt. Gov. Diane Denish said that
“the agreement will help protect New Mexicans for generations
to come.”