Lab completes excavation at TA-15 landfill

Material Disposal Area N contained 2,500 cubic yards of soil and debris

January 31, 2011—LANL subcontractor crews last month completed an important environmental milestone: excavation at another former material disposal area. It’s the eighth disposal area to be excavated, or otherwise completed, of 26 across the Lab slated for remediation.

Material Disposal Area N is located in TA-15 near former high-explosives firing sites. The landfill contained rubble from two buildings demolished there in the early 1960s and has been closed since 1965. The landfill is about the length of a football field and about 30 feet wide.

Crews excavated more than 2,500 cubic yards of soil and rubble. It will be packaged in metal bins and transported for disposal to the EnergySolutions facility near Clive, Utah.

Saving future costs

Corrective Action Program Director Dave McInroy said doing the excavation now will help save monitoring costs in the future.

“In this case, it helped ensure that our disposal records were accurate,” McInroy said. “These early successes can help us nail down future decisions with the New Mexico Environment Department on what to do with a disposal site.”

MDA N is one of 27 sites being addressed across TAs 15 and 36, including some of the more colorfully named sites in Lab history. The firing sites known as Eenie, Meenie, Minie, and Lower Slobbovia will all undergo further environmental sampling.

For LANS, the project manager for this work is John McCann. The LASO federal project director is Woody Woodworth. The principal subcontractor is TerranearPMC.

To learn more about the environmental work at TAs 15 and 36, read the Investigation Work Plan for Potrillo and Fence Canyons Aggregate Area, Revision 1 on the LANL Public Reading Room.