New Mexico chides NNSA, Triad over tritium containers

The New Mexico Environment Department wants the Department of Energy and its prime contractor for Los Alamos National Laboratory to take more precautions before it repackages four containers of tritium waste.

At the same time, the state Environment Department is angry at how Los Alamos National Laboratory has handled the tritium waste over time and is launching a “civil enforcement action” against DOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and contractor Triad Nuclear Security.

That is according to a June 9 letter from New Mexico Environment Cabinet Secretary James Kenney to NNSA Los Alamos manager Ted Wyka and Triad Associate Director Steven Coleman.

“In closing, the historical gross mismanagement of these waste streams by DOE and NNSA have placed NMED in an untenable situation,” Kenney said in the letter. “Now, the risk of inaction poses a far greater threat than a technical solution, but no technical solution is free from risk. Your disregard of state laws and rules governing these wastes for almost 20 years greatly exacerbated this situation and put New Mexicans, tribal communities, and our environment at risk.”

New Mexico instructed Los Alamos  to get an independent, third-party for depressurization options for the containers.The state also wants DOE and Triad to hold a public meeting, consult with local tribes and do a compliance audit.

DOE and Triad are seeking a temporary authorization to treat, store and repackage the four flanged tritium waste containers at Los Alamos Technical Area 54, Area G. The permit request was first filed with the state six years ago, in June 2016, according to the letter.

“During a subsequent audit, DOE determined that these containers could not be disposed of at TA-54 because they contain lead squibs that change the waste designation to low level mixed waste containers” that are subject to Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) standards, according to the letter. RCRA is a federal law governing disposal of solid and hazardous waste.

But before the containers can be moved elsewhere, “pressure mitigation” must be done and radioactive gas must be captured at Technical Area 54, according to the state letter.

The de-pressurization would involve venting “30,000 curies of radioactive tritium into the air during several weekends this summer,” according to a June 12 post from Sante Fe-based Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety.

“Any reference to “ 30,000 curies” represents a worst-case scenario” required for Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) review and the permitting process,” an NNSA spokesperson said Friday morning. “We don’t anticipate anywhere near that level of emissions, however. Any potential downwind doses would be indistinguishable from tritium levels naturally occurring in the environment every day,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement. 

In a fact sheet produced by Los Alamos, the lab said it has a “safe, proven and reliable process” for venting the containers in order to reduce the pressurized gases before the containers can be sent to a licensed off-site disposal location. The venting is needed to help the containers meet Department of Transportation standards. Tritium is an isotope of hydrogen with a decay half-life of more than 12 years.

EPA approves the air permit for the venting operation, according to a question-and-answer website for the project. DOE said on the container cleanup website that delaying the project could increase risks.