The National Nuclear Security Administration welcomed a baker’s dozen of non-governmental experts on arms control and nonproliferation to its Nevada facilities, including parts of the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) outside Las Vegas, the agency announced this week.
The Nevada site hosts a variety of nonproliferation projects, largely focused on the ability to detect low-yield nuclear explosions worldwide. The visitors saw P Tunnel, the site of an October 2023 nonproliferation experiment using conventional, non-nuclear explosives, and other sites supporting nonproliferation efforts, the NNSA said.
The 13 visitors also saw locations involved with the Stockpile Stewardship Program, which the NNSA said allows it to have “no identified technical need to conduct additional nuclear explosive tests.” Among many other facilities, the group visited the Principal Underground Laboratory for Subcritical Experimentation (PULSE), previously known as the U1a Complex, a deep-underground facility designed for non-nuclear explosive testing.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is taking comments between now and Feb. 29, 2024, on stormwater discharge rules affecting the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and surrounding areas.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wants to fix water quality standards violations raised in a petition by a Taos-based water advocacy group, Amigos Bravos. The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals remanded the issue to EPA for reconsideration, according to a Dec. 1 Federal Register notice. EPA plans a public hearing sometime in January.
EPA says discharges from the Los Alamos Urban Area, as defined by census data, and laboratory property in Los Alamos and Santa Fe Counties, contribute to New Mexico water quality problems. Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems run by Los Alamos County, the national lab, including DOE and its National Nuclear Security Administration prime Triad National Security, “would potentially be regulated as a result of this action,” according to the notice. For more information contact Evelyn Rosborough [email protected].
The three finalists for the Los Alamos County, N.M., manager post, including the current deputy manager, will take part in a public “meet-and-greet” Dec. 7, the county announced last week.
The three finalists to succeed Los Alamos County Manager Steven Lynne are the current deputy, Anne Laurent; Gretchen Cassini, transportation surtax administrator for Broward County, Fla.; and Tracey Jerome, senior deputy city manager for El Paso, Texas, according to a county press release.
Los Alamos County is the home of the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory, the birth of which featured prominently in this year’s Oppenheimer movie. The current manager, Lynne, said in July he plans to retire in March 2024, according to the Los Alamos Reporter.
The U.S. and the Philippines have reached an agreement concerning the peaceful use of nuclear energy, the Biden Administration announced this week.
“I am … pleased to transmit my written approval, authorization, and determination concerning the agreement and an unclassified Nuclear Proliferation Assessment Statement (NPAS), Biden said in a statement to Congress. “The Agreement has been negotiated in accordance with the Act and other applicable law. In my judgment, it meets all applicable statutory requirements and will advance the nonproliferation and other foreign policy interests of the United States of America.”
The agreement, which the U.S. holds with several nations, contains all of the provisions required by subsection 123 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954. It will allow the U.S. to send equipment, including nuclear reactors, components, and information for peaceful nuclear purposes, which does not include nuclear weapons or the material to make them.
