For the next two weeks the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory will depressurize four Flanged Tritium Waste Containers, the lab announced.
The work, which has angered tribal groups and the state of New Mexico, will start this Saturday Sept. 13, laboratory officials said in a press release.
Timing of the tritium venting “avoids impacting neighboring Pueblo Feast Days” and also “considers weather conditions to ensure activities occur at the best and safest time possible,” the release said.
The New Mexico Environment Department or NMED “concurs that the risk of inaction is greater than the risk of action and the technical solution proposed by the permittees is more protective of human health and the environment than inaction or further delay,” according to a Sept. 8 letter.
The letter was signed by NMED Cabinet Secretary James Kenney and addressed to NNSA Los Alamos field manager Theodore Wyka and Steven Coleman, the associate director for laboratory prime contractor Triad National Security.
The state’s temporary authorization is effective for 180 days, starting Sept. 8, and extending through March 7, 2026, according to the letter.
The temporary authorization is to complete treatment, storage and repacking of the four Flanged Tritium Waste Containers at Technical Area 54 and and Technical Area 16 “during appropriate weather conditions and air temperatures,” with certain other restrictions met, the state letter said.
DOE first sought the temporary authorization in 2019. A department audit found that before the containers could be moved safely, tritium venting was needed.
The state Environment Department, which has claimed DOE mishandled the waste over a year, agreed in June to grant the temporary authorization only if certain conditions were met.
Those conditions, an independent technical review, compliance audit, public meeting and tribal consultation, were completed last month, NMED said in the Sept. 8 letter.
When the work is finished, NNSA and Triad must publish a final report documenting the treatment process and all analytical results and lessons learned.
“DOE and LANL are trying to portray this as safe and routine, but there is nothing routine about exposing entire populations to radiation,” said Kathy Sanchez with Tewa Women United in a press release from community advocacy groups. “Pregnancy, children, and breastfeeding are uniquely vulnerable because water is the medium of life,” Sanchez said.
“This project is the direct result of decades of mismanagement,” said Joni Arends of Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety. “Instead of investing in real solutions like filtration or long-term storage until decay, DOE is forcing our communities to accept dangerous shortcuts.”