Members from the National Governors Association Federal Facilities Task Force toured Los Alamos National Laboratory sites to learn about the environmental legacy cleanup mission. July 1, 2025
Office of Environmental Management
July 1, 2025
minute read time
Members of the National Governors Association Federal Facilities Task Force stop at Overlook Park in White Rock, New Mexico, as part of a tour led by the U.S. Department of Energy Environmental Management Los Alamos Field Office and legacy cleanup contractor Newport News Nuclear BWXT- Los Alamos LLC. The tour highlighted water quality protection, legacy waste operations and hexavalent chromium plume interim measures at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
LOS ALAMOS, N.M. — Members from the National Governors Association (NGA) Federal Facilities Task Force toured Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) sites to learn about the environmental legacy cleanup mission led by the U.S. Department of Energy Environmental Management Los Alamos Field Office (EM-LA) and its contractor, Newport News Nuclear BWXT- Los Alamos LLC (N3B). The tour highlighted key projects, including a comprehensive water protection program, legacy waste operations and upcoming work across the site. Attendees were introduced to the region’s rich cultural heritage and the importance of protecting cultural resources during cleanup.
During a stop at cultural sites in Mortandad Canyon, Sarah Voorhees, community outreach adviser, fourth from right, with the U.S. Department of Energy Environmental Management Los Alamos Field Office (EM-LA), discusses how EM-LA regularly engages with the four Accord Pueblos to honor its trust responsibility and maintain strong government-to-government relationships. A representative with Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos LLC (N3B) spoke about N3B’s protection of cultural resources through active site monitoring, coordination with regulators, and compliance with federal preservation laws, and by supporting EM-LA’s engagement with the four Accord Pueblos.
In Mortandad Canyon, Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos LLC acting Environmental Remediation Program Manager Vince Rodriguez, center front, briefs the tour group on interim measures to prevent migration of a hexavalent chromium plume from the Los Alamos National Laboratory boundary and to treat contaminated groundwater. The group also saw the chromium treatment system and received insights about a recent chromium expert technical review.
Inside Dome 231 at Technical Area 54 (TA-54), Area G, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos LLC senior Waste Operations staff provided an overview of key activities. Attendees learned about the restoration of a pit after the retrieval of corrugated metal pipes containing cemented transuranic waste, waste characterization and certification, operations to remove items from transuranic waste drums that do not meet the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant’s waste acceptance criteria, and future cleanup work at TA-54.
At Overlook Park in White Rock, New Mexico, tour participants heard from Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos LLC acting Environmental Remediation Program Manager Vince Rodriguez about efforts to protect vital groundwater resources, manage stormwater through engineered systems and monitor seven major watersheds across the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The expansive view of White Rock Canyon and the Rio Grande from the park offered a striking perspective on the proximity of the laboratory to surrounding communities, including pueblos and Rio Arriba and Santa Fe counties.
-Contributor: Sarah Jimenez
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