New Mexico state and local government officials toured EM legacy cleanup projects at Technical Area 21 and Middle DP Road Site near downtown Los Alamos late last month.
Office of Environmental Management
October 17, 2023
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Brad Smith, second from right, president and general manager for EM legacy cleanup contractor Newport News Nuclear BWXT Los Alamos, explains the different types of waste and locations at Technical Area 21 (TA-21). At the height of Cold War operations, Los Alamos National Laboratory’s TA-21 contained a complex of 125 buildings that housed a plutonium processing facility and served as the site for groundbreaking tritium research for energy, environment, and weapons defense research.
LOS ALAMOS, N.M. – New Mexico state and local government officials toured EM legacy cleanup projects at Technical Area 21 and Middle DP Road Site near downtown Los Alamos late last month.
Attendees included Los Alamos County elected officials and staff; New Mexico state Sen. Leo Jaramillo; and representatives from the offices of New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, and U.S. Rep. Teresa Ledger Fernandez.
Building 21-257, the former Radiological Liquid Waste Facility, is the last remaining permanent building to be demolished at Technical Area 21 at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Current work scope for legacy cleanup contractor Newport News Nuclear BWXT Los Alamos includes as a priority the characterization and planning for deactivation and decommissioning of Building 21‐257 and the further characterization of waste transfer lines between buildings.
EM field work at the Middle DP Road Site has been completed. Remaining site work includes removing a small amount of construction debris and completing a Solid Waste Management Unit Assessment Report, which will be submitted to the New Mexico Environment Department by the end of 2023.
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