Staff Reports
WC Monitor
1/8/2015
The New Mexico Environment Department in a recent report said it found 421 instances of noncompliance by the Los Alamos National Laboratory with its state hazardous waste facility permit in fiscal 2015. That was up significantly from 76 instances of noncompliance reported the year before, 193 in fiscal 2013, and 12 in fiscal 2013. The reports are careful to draw the distinction that none of these instances “posed a potential threat to human health or the environment.”
“The larger number of noncompliances reported reflect the increased rigor of this year’s Annual Noncompliance Report,” said New Mexico Environment Department Secretary Ryan Flynn in a statement this week.
He attributed the rigorous response to the extraordinary radiological release at the Waste Isolation Pilot Project in southern New Mexico on Feb. 14, 2014. An investigation of that event identified a damaged container from Los Alamos as the source of the contamination and led to two supplemental compliance reports in 2014 that described in detail a number of breaches in Los Alamos’ processing of radioactive waste produced by its operations and the failure to reevaluate the waste stream adequately after potentially harmful changes were made. An accident investigation board concluded the release was caused by a heated reaction involving the mixture of organic materials and nitrate salts in one drum that was processed at LANL in December 2013. The board found shortcomings with both contractor and federal processes at the lab, WIPP, DOE Environmental Management, and the National Nuclear Security Administration. Nearly two years later, WIPP remains closed and nuclear waste shipments from LANL and other sites have been suspended.
Among other consequences, the incident resulted in a decision by Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz to separate the environmental function of the laboratory from the National Nuclear Security Administration and the partnership that manages and operates the lab, Los Alamos National Security (LANS). The responsibility for environmental cleanup has been given to DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, which is phasing into that role.
Mistakes and regulatory violations related to the WIPP incident were deemed to be a “First Degree” performance failure last year by the NNSA’s contracting officer, Robert M. Poole, who cited the waste management infraction as the rationale for withdrawing a one-year extension of the laboratory contract that had been awarded to LANS. Last month, LANL Director Charles McMillan, who is also CEO and chairman of LANS, advised laboratory employees that because of performance deficiencies in 2015, the contract could not earn another extension and would expire in 2016.
“Because of the events that occurred at LANL and WIPP, the Environment Department is requiring LANL to scrutinize their activities more closely than ever,” Flynn said. “While we are pleased with the increased rigor of this year’s Annual Noncompliance Report, the Environment Department’s ultimate goal is for all of the facilities we regulate to be fully compliant and we will require LANL to correct each and every issue identified in this year’s report.”
Much of the latest report was self-reported by the laboratory. Of special note was a unit-by-unit inspection last year of Area G, LANL’s hazardous waste storage area, Because Area G was the center of activity for the processing and packaging of radioactive waste for shipment to WIPP, the area continues to undergo a “deliberate and compliant restart of activities,” according to the report. Meanwhile, the report notes, the warm standby status of the area will limit the lab’s ability to immediately resolve some of the noncompliance issues.
Among examples of noncompliance at Area G were torn fabric on a dome structure that allowed moisture to enter, wastewater in lids, cracks in asphalt floors, tears in a skylight, a missing eyewash unit, inoperable emergency alarms, a safety shower that did not work, and a number of problems related to labeling and tracking containers. To correct some of the container problems, the report says, “New container numbers will be created where applicable; labels will be printed and applied to the waste containers and the waste containers will be included in the waste inventory for each of the appropriate units.”
The report is a specific requirement under the Environmental Protection Agency’s Resource and Conservation Recovery Act (RCRA) and serves as a regulatory tool. “NMED sees the Annual Noncompliance Report as a positive foundation for the future,” Flynn said. “LANL is more closely scrutinizing their own processes and procedures related to their RCRA permitted units.”
NMED and DOE have not yet signed a settlement agreement for compliance violations related to the WIPP incident, although the parties agreed in April 2015 to a set of principles for a $73 million payment that would settle all claims including enforcement actions against DOE and the laboratory. Flynn has said he would await assurances on DOE’s future cleanup budget plans before signing a final settlement.
Los Alamos is required to report any instances of noncompliance, along with any issues identified by state regulators. “We make one annual unannounced inspection that usually takes about a week,” said NMED Resource Protection Division Director Kathryn Roberts. “Clearly, LANL is under the magnifying glass right now,” Roberts added. “We’re really scrutinizing them, helping them scrutinize their own processes. The goal is to foster regulatory compliance and prevent situations from occurring.”
