The legacy cleanup contractor for the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico said recently it has completed the multi-million-dollar remediation of Middle DP Road in Los Alamos County.
Newport News Nuclear BWXT Los Alamos (N3B) said late last month that recent sampling confirmed “contamination removal and cleanup is complete,” according to an online update.
“Workers are now finishing field work, which includes removal of a Los Alamos County debris pile, demobilizing excavation equipment and completing environmental restoration activities,” N3B went on to say. The contractor team added that it is continuing to ship the excavated low-level radioactive waste from the road site to a disposal facility, and field work should be wrapped up within weeks.
An assessment report on the project is being prepared, N3B said. N3B has previously said it expected to wrap up the Middle DP Road cleanup this year at a cost of about $19 million, according to a Government Accountability Office report.
The contamination along DP Road was discovered in 2020 when Los Alamos County work crews were doing utility site work connected with a planned housing complex. Contaminated soil was found on a parcel of land along Middle DP Road previously thought to be clean and transferred years before to the county from the DOE lab.
