Preassessment Screen for Los Alamos National Laboratory

The Los Alamos National Laboratory Natural Resource Trustee Council

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is situated on approximately 27,500 acres (approximately 40 square miles) in north-central New Mexico, approximately 60 miles north of Albuquerque and 25 miles northwest of Santa Fe. Scientific research began at the site in March 1943 with the inception of Project Y of the Manhattan Project, the U.S. government’s effort to develop and test nuclear weapons. Nuclear-weapons research included the handling of, use of, and experimentation with a variety of radioactive materials. These practices led to the release of radioactive wastes into the surrounding environment. In recent decades, operations at LANL have broadened beyond those pertaining primarily to nuclear weaponry development and now include more broadly categorized missions relating to national security, energy resources, environmental quality, and science (DOE 1999). Expansion of site operations to achieve these goals has led to a corresponding increase in not only the type and volume of hazardous substances and oil discharged to the environment but also to the geographic area exposed to these contaminants. Under federal law, federal, state and tribal entities are authorized to act as trustees of natural resources on behalf of the public (Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 [CERCLA], as amended, 42 United States Code [USC] § 9601 et seq, National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan [NCP], 40 Code of Federal Regulation [CFR] Part 300, Subpart G). In this role, Trustees may assess and recover damages for natural resource injuries that have resulted from the release of hazardous substances to the environment. Damages may include the cost of restoring the injured resources to their baseline condition (i.e., the condition that would have existed but for the release) as well as the value of interim losses pending restoration (Federal Register Volume 73, No. 192, page 573260). Damages are used to restore, rehabilitate, replace, or acquire the equivalent of injured natural resources.