LANL legacy cleanup: progress and challenges in 2025
The Department of Energy’s Environmental Management Los Alamos Field Office (EM-LA) said it is making significant progress in its cleanup mission at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) but faces persistent challenges as it prepares for 2025.
Jessica Kunkle, who became EM-LA manager in June 2024, is leading the office’s efforts to address legacy contamination from Manhattan Project and Cold War operations.
“The best way to think about our work is we focus in three primary areas,” Kunkle said in Tuesday night’s presentation to the Los Alamos County Council. “The first is protecting water quality... The next is focused on cleaning up the land... and then the last sort of triad of our cleanup mission is focusing on waste management.”
The chromium plume: ‘No final remedy selected yet’
Kunkle stated that one of EM-LA’s “highest priorities” is the hexavalent chromium plume threatening regional groundwater supplies.
From the 1950s through the early 1970s, the Laboratory used potassium dichromate, which contains hexavalent chromium as an active ingredient, to prevent corrosion in cooling towers at a power plant. During that time period, the Lab discharged the contaminated water into nearby canyons, where it seeped deep underground. In 2004, scientists discovered the plume by chance during routine testing and found that the contamination exceeded New Mexico’s safety standards.
“The plume is approximately 1000 feet beneath Mortandad and Sandia canyons, and it’s currently about one mile long by one-half mile wide,” said Kunkle.
In 2018, EM-LA, with the approval of the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED), implemented a set of so-called Interim Measures (IM) to address the migration of the plume, said Kunkle. The IM consisted of five wells in which water was extracted from the plume, a water treatment system that removed the hexavalent chromium from the extracted water, and five additional wells that injected clean water back into the plume.
Subsequent technical disagreements between NMED and EM-LA resulted in the shutdown of the IM in March 2023. However, in March 2024, NMED and EM-LA jointly convened an outside expert team to help resolve their technical disputes. This team issued a report, which recommended a partial restart of the IM, in December 2024. As a result, EM-LA has recently resumed partial operations with three extraction wells and three injection wells running 24/7, said Kunkle.
According to Kunkle, full implementation of all the report’s recommendations could cost as much as $160 million over two to five years. However, she said, “We still do not have a final remedy selected yet for the hexavalent chromium plume. We are still in the investigation phase.”
Cleanup crews: workforce challenges
Meanwhile, Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos (more commonly known as N3B), the legacy cleanup contractor, reported progress in waste management and staffing stability. The company has completed retrieval and size reduction of 158 corrugated metal pipes containing radioactive waste from the Cold War era, creating 792 standard waste boxes that will be shipped to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) beginning this year.
N3B also reported strides in workforce development and retention. In 2024, the contractor employed about 780 people, 94% from Northern New Mexico. Employee turnover has dropped from 30% two years ago to approximately 10% today, though housing remains challenging for workers.
“I’d be reluctant to say we’ve solved it,” said Brad Smith, N3B president and general manager, speaking of workforce challenges related to lack of housing and associated long commutes. “Many of our nuclear operators come from in and around Albuquerque, and in the winter especially, that is a hard drive.”
Smith said N3B is looking into flexible work schedules and different pay grades to help workers manage the commute.
The company has also expanded its training programs, partnering with Northern New Mexico College for nuclear operator and radiation control technician boot camps. “We want people to take pride in what they do,” Smith said. And, of more immediate importance, “We want them to go home with 10 fingers and 10 toes.”
Townsite boundary and Middle DP Road cleanup
Beyond the chromium plume and waste shipments, EM-LA updated the Council on progress in environmental remediation across Los Alamos. Of the 205 cleanup sites within the Townsite boundary, 172 have been investigated and remediated, officials reported.
The office recently received approval from NMED confirming the successful cleanup of the Middle DP Road Site. According to a press release from N3B, crews removed more than 5,917 cubic yards of waste and debris — equivalent to about 370 roll-off containers. After extensive sampling and analysis, NMED concluded the site does “not pose an unacceptable risk from hazardous constituents to human health and the environment,” according to the same press release. The land has been cleared for continued economic development.
Further east on DP Road, cleanup work continues at Technical Area 21, which contains two material disposal areas (MDAs). Smith explained that disposal area ‘A’ contained generalized Laboratory waste, while disposal area ‘T’ requires more careful monitoring.
“‘T’ is a little more exciting. It’s got Curie [a unit of radioactivity] content that we need to make sure that we control,” Smith told Council. “So we do soil vapor sampling to make sure that nothing’s getting out and I’m glad to say, nothing is. It’s staying where it’s supposed to.”
New administration, new rules?
Looking ahead, both EM-LA and N3B face uncertainty amid a turbulent presidential transition marked by executive orders targeting federal workers.
When asked about impacts from the new administration, Kunkle acknowledged the situation remains fluid: “There’s been a lot of news coverage in the past couple weeks about a number of changes... This administration is still very new, so there’s still a lot of time that there could be additional changes coming.”
While federal courts have temporarily stayed some executive orders, the situation has created anxiety among the workforce responsible for environmental cleanup in Los Alamos.
Despite these challenges, officials say they are committed to the remaining work: 17 of 26 material disposal areas still require corrective action, and complex projects like Pit 9 require extensive planning and specialized equipment. This pit contains almost 3,900 stacked drums of waste and 191 fiberglass-reinforced boxes that must be carefully retrieved.
“We’ll have an enclosure over the top so we can control the environment,” Smith said. “We want to be as transparent as we possibly can within the confines of what we do.”
Glossary of Los Alamos cleanup terms
Aggregate Areas: Locations across mesa tops, canyons, or watersheds throughout Los Alamos National Laboratory that may contain contaminated soil or debris from legacy operations.
CMP (Corrugated Metal Pipe): Large metal pipes, approximately 20 feet long and weighing 10,000-14,000 pounds each, that contained cemented radioactive liquid waste from past operations.
Consent Order: The principal regulatory document between DOE and the New Mexico Environment Department that governs legacy cleanup at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
DOE-EM: Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management, the federal agency responsible for cleaning up environmental contamination from past nuclear weapons production and research.
DSA (Documented Safety Analysis): A comprehensive safety evaluation required before conducting cleanup operations involving nuclear materials.
EM-LA: Environmental Management Los Alamos Field Office, the local DOE office responsible for overseeing legacy cleanup work.
Hexavalent Chromium: A toxic form of chromium used historically in nonnuclear cooling towers as an anti-corrosive agent; it is a known carcinogen that can harm human health when ingested in drinking water.
Interim Measure: A temporary action is taken to prevent or reduce contamination while a final cleanup solution is developed.
Legacy Waste: Any contaminated materials or waste generated before October 1, 1999, from past nuclear weapons research and production.
MDA (Material Disposal Area): Legacy landfills or waste disposal sites used during the Cold War era, containing various types of waste from past operations.
N3B: Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos, the contractor responsible for conducting legacy cleanup work at Los Alamos.
NMED: New Mexico Environment Department, the state regulatory agency that oversees environmental cleanup work.
PCBs (Polychlorinated Biphenyls): A group of hazardous chemicals previously used in industrial applications that persist in the environment. Soil contaminated with these chemicals was found in Los Alamos Canyon near the former Omega research reactor site.
RCRA: Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the federal law governing the disposal of solid and hazardous waste. Pronounced “rickra.”
SWMU (Solid Waste Management Unit): Specific locations where solid or hazardous wastes were handled, stored, treated, or disposed of. Pronounced “shmoo” for some reason.
TA (Technical Area): Designated areas within Los Alamos National Laboratory where different activities occur. For example, TA-21 is a cleanup site at the end of DP Road.
TRU (Transuranic) Waste: Radioactive waste contaminated with elements heavier than uranium on the periodic table. Pronounced “true.”
WIPP (Waste Isolation Pilot Plant): A deep geological repository in Carlsbad, New Mexico, where transuranic waste is permanently disposed of. Pronounced “whip.”
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