Independent air quality audit shows Laboratory compliance with Clean Air Act

Contact: James E. Rickman, jamesr@lanl.gov, (505) 665-9203 (02-120)

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LOS ALAMOS, N.M., Oct. 22, 2002 -- An independent auditor has confirmed that the Laboratory's radioactive air emissions in 2001 were less than one fifth of what is allowed by the federal Clean Air Act and that the Laboratory's air-monitoring processes will ensure future compliance with the law.

John Till, audit team leader for Risk Assessment Corp. of Neeses, S.C., today publicly released the audit team's findings at a meeting in Los Alamos. The Till team's latest audit began in June and was the third independent technical audit of the Laboratory's radioactive air emissions compliance program. This audit and its predecessors are part of a settlement of a lawsuit brought against the U.S. Department of Energy and the Laboratory by Santa Fe-based Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety. A Consent Decree that dictates conditions of the lawsuit settlement was announced in January 1997. It required the DOE to pay for as many as four independent technical audits.

But at today's meeting, Till announced that this latest audit has shown that another audit is unnecessary due to the quality of the Laboratory's radioactive air emissions compliance program.

"Dr. Till and his team's visits over the past three years have helped the Laboratory identify areas for improvement in our compliance program," said Jean Dewart, leader of the Laboratory's Meteorology and Air Quality Group. "We are pleased that this third audit acknowledges the effectiveness of the Laboratory's compliance program. As with the first two audits, we look forward to evaluating the recommendations of the audit team and to implementing changes that will improve our program."

Till's team audited the Laboratory's radioactive air emissions from all sources for calendar year 2001 and calculated the annual maximum radioactive dose from Lab operations for someone at the Laboratory boundary; that calculated dose was 1.84 millirem for a one-year period, although the actual dose to the majority of the public in the Los Alamos vicinity was lower.

For comparison, a person in New Mexico typically receives about one millirem each day from naturally occurring background radiation such as cosmic rays, radon from the soil and other sources. The federal Clean Air Act limits the Laboratory's offsite emissions to 10 millirem annually.

"The audit team's report clearly shows that radioactive air emissions from the Laboratory are in full compliance with federal laws and pose a negligible risk to the public," Dewart said.

Moreover, the Till team's report states:

"The audit team has concluded that there were no substantive deficiencies requiring corrective actions that justify having a fourth audit under the Consent Decree. Therefore, we consider that audit requirements under the Consent Decree have been met and are concluded with this report."

Beverly Ramsey, director of the Laboratory's Risk Reduction and Environmental Stewardship Division, praised the Laboratory's three-year relationship with Dr. Till and his team.

"Overall, the outcome of this lengthy audit process has been an improvement in the Laboratory's compliance program," she said. "This, in turn, has added to the Laboratory's public credibility. It is the Laboratory's intention to continue with activities that will reiterate our worthiness of the public's trust and will illustrate the Laboratory's continuing and on-going commitment to environmental stewardship and protection."

Dennis Erickson, the Laboratory's former director for Environment, Safety and Health, also is pleased with the conclusions of the audit. As one of the negotiators of the Consent Decree and one who presided during much of its implementation, he said he is most impressed with the improvements in operations, credibility, and public confidence that can result when a mutually acceptable and respected team of experts is empowered to critique a technical program.

"As is often the case, we see that better answers come when people of differing viewpoints ask questions," Erickson said. "We are indebted to Dr. Till and his colleagues for working with the Laboratory to get these different viewpoints involved. We have all benefited from it."

Los Alamos National Laboratory is operated by the University of California for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) of the U.S. Department of Energy and works in partnership with NNSA's Sandia and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories to support NNSA in its mission.

Los Alamos enhances global security by ensuring the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, developing technologies to reduce threats from weapons of mass destruction, and solving problems related to energy, environment, infrastructure, health and national security concerns.