[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Tainted Los Alamos Soil Dug Up



Tainted Los Alamos Soil Dug Up

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) - A legacy of the Atomic Age lies in the soil 
along a canyon about two miles from a reactor once important in 
nuclear weapons research and manufacturing. 

Now there's a race against time and weather to ensure the radioactive-
contaminated soil from Los Alamos National Laboratory doesn't flush 
onto neighboring Indian lands and into the state's largest river, the 
Rio Grande. 

Seasonal rains are expected soon and lab officials fear that could 
bring heavy flooding because of a fire last month that consumed more 
than 48,000 acres in and around Los Alamos. 

Workers are digging up truckloads of the dirt along Los Alamos Canyon 
and shipping it to a waste storage site on the federal laboratory's 
property. 

Large swaths of the once-green mountainsides are barren, except for 
the blackened remnants of pine trees. There's little or no vegetation 
to slow water or stop sediment from pouring into some of the canyons 
that lead to the river about 10 miles from the city of Los Alamos. 

On Monday, lab officials led a tour of the contamination site and 
explained the excavation operation that should be finished late in 
the week. 

Lee McAtee, the lab's deputy director of environmental safety and 
health, said there's no serious health risk from the soil because it 
has very low levels of radiation. A frequent hiker to the area, for 
example, would receive a radiation dose equal to riding in an 
airliner for one hour. 

But McAtee said the lab wanted to ease potential concerns of the 
public by preventing any contamination from moving off of the 
government's property. 

``We're doing it because we believe it's the right thing from the 
standpoint of being a good neighbor,'' said McAtee. 

So far, about 360 cubic yards of soil - 33 dump truck loads - have 
been dug from a sandy area alongside a rocky road that leads up the 
canyon. Up to twice that much may be removed by the end of the week. 
The digging started Friday. 

Environmentalists welcomed the lab's effort to stop the spread of 
contamination. 

``It's a good idea to do cleanup where cleanup is possible,'' said 
Greg Mello, director of the anti-nuclear Los Alamos Study Group in 
Santa Fe. 

Except for the excavation operations - roped-off areas with 
radioactivity warning signs - there's nothing to visibly suggest the 
place had become a dumping ground for early makers of the atomic 
bomb. It looks no different from the high desert canyons all around 
Los Alamos. A road leading into the area has a gate that warns of 
possible contamination, but there are no markers of specific 
contamination sites. The area and road has been open to hikers. 

The soil is believed to be contaminated from dumping in the 1940s and 
1950s of liquid wastes near a weapons research reactor shut down 
seven years ago. Rains have carried contaminated sediment down the 
canyon. 

Lab officials selected the area for excavation because it contained 
among the highest levels of contamination in flood-prone canyons. 
Once the soil is removed, clean dirt will be brought to the site and 
then rocks will be placed along the meandering channel - now dry - 
where water flows when it rains. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sandy Perle					Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100   				    	
Director, Technical				Extension 2306 				     	
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Division		Fax:(714) 668-3149 	                   		    
ICN Biomedicals, Inc.				E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net 				                           
ICN Plaza, 3300 Hyland Avenue  		E-Mail: sperle@icnpharm.com          	          
Costa Mesa, CA 92626                                      

Personal Website:  http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/1205
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com

************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html