Work crews at the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico will start demolition of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA’s) old Ion Beam Facility this year, a DOE cleanup manager said Wednesday.
“We are going to tear down the ion beam and remove the slab” starting in 2026, Jessica Kunkle, who heads DOE’s Environmental Management field office in Los Alamos said. Kunkle made the remarks as part of a presentation to DOE’s Northern New Mexico Citizens Advisory Board.
Demolition of the administrative wing and horizontal accelerator should start during the first half of the year, Kunkle said.
The 60,000-square feet Ion Beam Facility, now a contaminated old structure, was built in 1951 and was home to two old accelerators, Kunkle said.
Contractor Aptim Federal Services has been overseeing deactivation of the facility located at Los Alamos Technical Area 3. APTIM was awarded a $68-million task order for the work in July 2023.