Second independent air-quality audit begins at Lab

Contact: James Rickman, elvis@lanl.gov, (505) 665-9203 (00-088)

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LOS ALAMOS, N.M., June 19, 2000 -- An independent team led by John E. Till of Radiological Assessments Corp. this week will begin its second scheduled audit to confirm that radioactive air emissions from the U.S. Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory comply with the federal Clean Air Act.

The audit is part of a settlement of a lawsuit brought against the Laboratory by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety. A consent decree under the lawsuit was announced in January 1997 and required DOE to pay for as many as four independent technical audits of the Laboratory's radioactive air emissions program. The first audit by Till and his team was initiated in 1997, with the final report released in 1999. In that first audit, Till and his team stated that the Laboratory did not exceed federal limits for radioactive air emissions in 1996; his team also concluded that, in its opinion, the Laboratory was not in compliance with certain regulatory and technical requirements of the federal Clean Air Act in 1996. The team also identified a number of ways in which the Laboratory could improve its air monitoring efforts.

This week's activity begins the second audit, which will look at radioactive air emissions in calendar year 1999. To facilitate this audit, Laboratory personnel will provide updated briefings to the audit team. These presentations will address how the Laboratory has implemented changes to its air-monitoring program in response to the first audit.

"We have had a productive and professional working relationship with Dr. Till in the past," said Dennis Erickson, director of the Laboratory's Environment, Safety and Health Division. "We can count on Dr. Till and his team to conduct a thorough and unbiased technical audit of air-emissions data."

Under the consent decree, the second independent audit could cost up to $200,000 and will be paid by DOE. The decree also states that the second independent audit may include an analysis of the Laboratory's radionuclide monitoring systems, a review of the Laboratory's methodology for determining the offsite dose to the public from Laboratory radioactive air emissions, an examination and assessment of Laboratory programs to assure the quality and accuracy of its air-monitoring program and data, and other analyses deemed appropriate by Till and his team.

Under the federal Clean Air Act, the Laboratory is limited to releasing a 10 millirem dose equivalent each year to areas off of Laboratory property. A millirem is a unit of measure of a dose a person receives after being exposed to radioactive materials; people in this region of New Mexico typically receive about one millirem a day from the sun, cosmic rays and other natural sources. Laboratory scientists have calculated 1999 Laboratory radioactive air emissions at less than one tenth of what is allowed under the Clean Air Act.

The independent technical audit of Laboratory air emissions should conclude by the end of the year. If the independent auditor believes it necessary, his team will perform additional audits in 2002 and 2003, according to provisions of the consent decree.

More news releases from the Environment, Safety and Health (ESH) Division