As of last week, the legacy cleanup contractor at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico had excavated most potholes along a radiologically contaminated stretch of Middle DP Road in Los Alamos County, N.M., and believes the attendant risk to human health is low, a manager with the Department of Energy told a meeting of the county council.
Newport News Nuclear-BWXT Los Alamos (N3B) should have all 124 potholes excavated by the end of September, Brian Harcek, a senior health physicist for the DOE Environmental Management field office in Los Alamos, said during the council’s Sept. 21 work session.
With 106 of the 124 potholes excavated, the risk to people and the environment appears low and an extensive remediation beyond soil removal won’t be needed, Harcek said.
Contamination in the area has been identified as very early Manhattan Project uranium and plutonium, Harcek said in his presentation.
“Radiological contamination is adhered to the debris with little to no transfer to the surrounding soils,” Harcek said. As a result, “the human health and ecological risk is low.”
“No further remediation is expected since soils surrounding suspect debris are being removed as a precaution,” Harcek said.
“Confirmation sampling” will occur during October after the digging is done and the contractor will deliver an assessment report to the New Mexico Environment Department Hazardous Waste Bureau by April 30, 2022.
In February 2020 radioactive contamination was detected within a 28-acre parcel of land along the public road DOE had already declared fully remediated and transferred to Los Alamos County in 2018.
A link to the DOE presentation can be found here.
