News
News Releases Fukushima disaster: LANL scientist offers insights
Radiation from Fukushima Daiichi has been detected around the world.
June 21, 2011—Lab air specialist Mike McNaughton talked about local radiation readings following the Fukushima Daiichi disaster during an interview on local radio station KRSN AM 1490 set to air Thursday morning (June 23).
McNaughton described how his colleagues quickly deployed three high-volume air samplers to see if emissions from Japan could be detected here. The team also monitored NEWNET, the Lab's existing air network which specializes in gamma detections, and the Laboratory's 60-plus AIRNET stations.
Within days, McNaughton said, models were proving to be very accurate—with LANL detectors picking up traces of radioactive iodine and cesium, among other things. Levels were higher than those detected after the Three Mile Island incident, but lower than Chernobyl, McNaughton said.
The interview airs at 7:30 Thursday morning on KRSN AM 1490.
Learn more in McNaughton's May 12 presentation to the New Mexico Community Foundation.
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People
11,127 total employees
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SOC Los Alamos (Guard Force) 419
Contractors 606
Students 1,101
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Located 35 miles northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, on 36 square miles of DOE-owned property.
More than 2,000 individual facilities, including 47 technical areas with 8 million square feet under roof.
Replacement value of $5.9 billion
Budget FY 2012: Approx. $2.2 billion
57% Weapons programs
9% Nonproliferation programs
7% Safeguards and Security
8% Environmental Management
4% DOE Office of Science
4% Energy and other programs
11% Work for Others
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34% of employees live in Los Alamos, the remainder commute from Santa Fe,
Española, Taos, and Albuquerque.
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70% male, 30% female
43% minorities
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· 23% hold undergraduate degrees
· 16% hold graduate degrees
· 24% have earned a Ph.D.
Major Awards
121 R&D100 awards since 1978
31 E.O. Lawrence Awards
The Seaborg Medal
The Edward Teller Medal
The Nobel Prize in Physics, Frederick Reines