LANL posts latest Environmental Surveillance Report

Report describes results from air, water, and more

The Laboratory's 2009 Environmental Surveillance Report is now online. "Environmental Surveillance at Los Alamos during 2009" describes the results of the Laboratory's monitoring of air, surface water, groundwater, storm water, sediments, soils, and biota. This annual document is prepared by members of the Waste and Environmental Services (WES) and Environmental Protection (ENV) Divisions.

The report documents LANL’s compliance with environmental regulations and gives Laboratory managers and the general public a picture of the environmental monitoring results and environmental cleanup work in 2009. It also reports on the radiation dose received by members of the public as a result of Laboratory operations.

The 2009 dose by air to the maximally exposed individual was the same very low dose as last year -- less than 5.5% of the EPA limit. New in the document for this year is a summary of data and studies on the Laboratory's impact on the Rio Grande.

This annual report serves as documentation to the Department of Energy and the public of the environmental results, compliance status, and monitoring accomplishments at the Laboratory and it is read by many organizations and the pueblos.

During 2009, the Laboratory collected more than 12,000 environmental monitoring samples from more than 730 locations and received almost 250,000 results for chemical and radiochemical constituents. The report contains all environmental monitoring results in supplemental data tables in Microsoft Excel format. The 2009 Environmental Surveillance Report and the supplemental data tables are available online at http://www.lanl.gov/environment/all/esr.shtml (Adobe Acrobat Reader required).

The Waste and Environmental Support Services Division (WES) and Environmental Protection (ENV) divisions provide a broad range of technical expertise and assistance in areas such as environmental restoration and remediation, environmental protection, pollution prevention, National Environmental Policy Act requirements, wildfire protection, and natural and cultural resources management.