An annual environmental report released last month on the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico shows the facility is complying with key regulatory standards for air and water, DOE said.
The 2024 Annual Site Environmental Report (ASER) for Los Alamos was released in December.
The 300-page report shows the lab’s air emissions were equivalent to a maximum dose of 0.78 millirem to a hypothetical member of the public, far below the Lab’s 10 millirem limit allowed by the Clean Air Act, according to the laboratory’s Dec. 24 press release.
The lab used dosimeters placed at 73 locations around the complex to keep an eye on gamma and neutron radiation levels, according to the report. “Gamma radiation occurs naturally, typically 100 to 200 millirem per year near Los Alamos, so it is difficult to distinguish the much smaller levels of radiation contributed by site operations.”
The New Mexico Environment Department reported no findings of infractions with the lab’s Hazardous Waste Facility Permit in fiscal 2024, according to the press release.
“Of the 738 water samples collected from outfalls at lab buildings, only three exceeded a permit limit,” the Los Alamos National Laboratory said. Those three non-radiological exceedances were promptly corrected, the lab said in the press release.
The laboratory covers about 40 square miles of property located in north-central New Mexico, about 60 miles north northeast of Albuquerque and 25 miles northwest of Santa Fe.
The facility set up during the Manhattan Project in 1943 is managed for the National Nuclear Security Administration by prime contractor, Triad National Security. Newport News Nuclear-BWXT-Los Alamos (N3B) is the legacy cleanup contractor for the site.
Several big wildfires have burned in and around the site in recent decades. The Cerro Grande Fire in 2000 and the Las Conchas Fire in 2011 closed the lab for several days and triggered evacuations of the Los Alamos townsite. The Cerro Pelado Fire in 2022 happened near the site but did not close down the lab, according to the report.