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 feds and their contractors at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) issued a joint statement in response to the letter.
“The permittees—the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and its field offices, the National Nuclear Security Administration, Los Alamos Field Office (NA-LA) and the Environmental Management, Los Alamos Field Office (EM-LA), together with Triad National Security, LLC (Triad) and Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos, LLC (N3B)—are reviewing the notice received on June 8 and evaluating NMED’s technical comments,” according to the statement. “ NA-LA, EM-LA, Triad, and N3B are committed to safe, compliant operations for the national security and legacy cleanup missions at LANL.”
The state 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 Los Alamos 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.”
NMED, which is already pursuing a revision to the permit of DOE’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), is also using the Los Alamos permit letter to pressure DOE to increase the rate of in-state transuranic waste going from Los Alamos to WIPP.
NMED proposed permit language requiring expanded reporting on transuranic and mixed transuranic legacy waste inventories. This detailed inventory table — broken down by material disposal areas, pits and specific storage locations — must be updated annually by March 31 to reflect current federal data.
The state also proposed rigorous, escalating quotas aimed at prioritizing shipments of LANL legacy waste to WIPP. The proposal would require legacy waste to account for at least 55% of total waste emplaced at WIPP between 2027 and 2031, increasing to 75% beginning in 2032, alongside a requirement that above-ground legacy waste stored at Los Alamos Material Disposal Area G be shipped by July 2028.