The state of New Mexico has rejected the latest hazardous waste permit renewal application for the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory, citing among other things deficiencies related to oversight of PFAS, sometimes called “forever chemicals.”
Concerns over explosive waste treatment operations and legacy waste management, were also cited by the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) In a June 8 notice of disapproval to DOE, lab prime contractor Triad National Security and cleanup contractor Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos (N3B).
The DOE and its Los Alamos contractors were directed to submit a revised permit application within 120 calendar days. The NMED disapproval letter can be accessed via this link.
The decision marks the latest step in a permit renewal process that began in 2020 and has been bogged down by repeated rounds of administrative review. NMED said the application was declared administratively complete in September 2025 and entered technical review, but found it still contained significant deficiencies that must be fixed before the permit can proceed.
Among its most extensive comments were new requirements related to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. NMED cited New Mexico legislation that took effect in June 2025 and expanded the state’s hazardous waste framework to include PFAS. The department directed the permittees to incorporate PFAS definitions, sampling requirements, cleanup standards and monitoring provisions throughout the permit application.
The agency also called for PFAS evaluations at sites where firefighting foams containing fluorinated compounds may have been used.
NMED pressed LANL for more scrutiny of its open burn and open detonation operations, which are used to treat explosive waste under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. The state requested additional information on the quantities of explosive waste treated, including net explosive weight measurements, and ordered new soil sampling at treatment areas where activities have occurred since the last testing cycle in 2018.
The agency further directed the permittees to provide additional information on alternative treatment technologies and whether those technologies could be “scaled up to meet size or reactivity of LANL’s waste stream.”