Los Alamos Legacy Cleanup Mission Primed for Continued Progress

Environmental Management Los Alamos Field Office field crews conduct drilling operations at the R-80 monitoring well in Mortandad Canyon. The new well will further characterization efforts in the northeast portion of the hexavalent chromium plume.

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. — Over the next two years, the legacy cleanup contractor for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Environmental Management Los Alamos Field Office (EM-LA) will continue to protect critical water supplies, clean up contaminated land and reduce remaining radioactive waste at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL).

Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos LLC (N3B) will also maintain its strong record of meeting milestones under the revised 2016 Compliance Order on Consent, which governs certain cleanup activities at the site.

“We look forward to our continued partnership with N3B on this next phase of the LANL legacy cleanup mission and building on the progress achieved,” said Stanley Pyram, acting EM-LA manager.

As of the end of 2025, N3B has:

• Protected water supplies using an interim measure to control and reduce the hexavalent chromium plume at LANL
• Disposed of more than 12,000 cubic meters of contaminated soil and debris, and more than 15,000 cubic meters of radioactive waste, including more than 900 cubic meters of legacy transuranic waste

“I am proud that EM-LA has the trust in N3B to continue this critical mission at LANL,” said Brad Smith, N3B president and general manager.

The hexavalent chromium plume in the regional groundwater aquifer, approximately 1,000 feet beneath Mortandad and Sandia canyons at LANL, remains a top priority. N3B will continue to drill new monitoring wells to strengthen plume characterization as well as work to implement recommendations from an expert technical review to enhance long-term cleanup effectiveness.

N3B will continue to advance soil cleanup in LANL’s Aggregate Areas, which are geographical areas within watersheds or canyons that contain soil and debris contaminated from legacy operations at LANL.

N3B will also maintain shipments of legacy transuranic waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), along with disposal of low-level and mixed low-level waste. Removing this material from the site remains a critical step in reducing long-term risk.

Over the next two years, N3B anticipates:

• Completing drilling of two groundwater monitoring wells and permitting one additional well
• Making progress on implementing the expert technical review recommendations to augment hexavalent chromium plume cleanup efforts
• Substantially reducing the above-ground inventory of legacy transuranic waste
• Furthering progress on Aggregate Areas
• Implementing a documented safety analysis for Area G, which is intended to further mitigate risks to workers and the environment. Area G at LANL is dedicated to storing, characterizing, remediating and shipping LANL’s legacy transuranic waste to WIPP and low‑level radioactive waste offsite

“We have a lot of work ahead of us, but I know the N3B team will continue to demonstrate the dedication, the focus on safety and the commitment to operational excellence that has been at the core of our success to date,” Smith said.

-Contributor: Mike Nartker