Los Alamos Public Forum Engages Community on Chromium Project

A community member asks questions during the April 18 Environmental Management Cleanup Forum at SALA Event Center in Los Alamos.

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. - More than 100 in-person and virtual attendees gathered at a recent Environmental Management Cleanup Forum to hear leadership from the Environmental Management Los Alamos Field Office (EM-LA) and the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) discuss a mutual initiative for a hexavalent chromium groundwater plume beneath the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL).

EM-LA legacy cleanup contractor Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos hosted the forum at the SALA Event Center in Los Alamos. The event served as an overview and introduction to the Hexavalent Chromium Project Expert Technical Review Team, which has been tasked to evaluate the effectiveness of the chromium plume interim measures.

The purpose and necessity of the review team was explained by Inés Triay, interim dean, College of Engineering and Computing, and executive director for the Applied Research Center of Florida International University. Triay is the appointed lead of the review team.

The team will evaluate five lines of inquiry, including the ability of the interim measures to hydraulically control the plume, state of plume modeling, NMED's proposed corrective actions and conditions, readiness to propose and begin evaluating remedial alternatives, and monitoring of well design.

Pictured on screen is Inés Triay, interim dean, College of Engineering and Computing, and executive director for the Applied Research Center of Florida International University. Triay shares details about the Hexavalent Chromium Project Expert Technical Review Team. On stage at table, left, is Ellie Gilbertson, acting manager for the Environmental Management Los Alamos Field Office, and John Rhoderick, director, Water Protection Division for the New Mexico Environment Department. Gilbertson and Rhoderick provide agency perspectives on the technical review.

EM-LA and NMED jointly agreed on the review team members, which include environmental engineers, hydrologists, geologists and geophysicists. They come from the Network of National Laboratories for Environmental Management and Stewardship, industry, academia and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 6. The 15 team members will provide unbiased recommendations and lead technical discussions of its findings and conclusions to help EM-LA and NMED on a path forward regarding the chromium project.

The second half of the forum was open to a public Q&A. Residents of Los Alamos County and Northern New Mexico and stakeholders asked questions about the technical review and the hexavalent chromium plume that exists in the regional aquifer beneath LANL.

The team expects to complete its review and a report by the end of the year.

-Contributor: Marilyn Matthews-Gordon