The parking area near the junction of N.M. 4 and N.M 502 will close for several months beginning Monday as Lab scientists begin an environmental monitoring activity at the site of the "low head weir" flood-water retention structure, which was constructed in the aftermath of the Cerro Grande Fire. The monitoring project will help researchers better understand whether the weir is doing its job of helping slow or stop the migration of contaminants. Crews are posting signs at the parking lot reminding people of the closure. People who regularly use the parking area should find alternatives during the closure period. Photo by James E. Rickman, Public Affairs
Post-fire environmental monitoring activity will close "White Rock Y" parking area
Attention all "White Rock Y" parking area users: The paved parking area on the north side of N.M. 4 near the junction of N.M. 4 and N.M. 502 will be closed beginning next Monday, March 26, as researchers from the Laboratory begin an environmental monitoring activity.
Laboratory researchers are installing three specialized monitoring boreholes in lower Los Alamos Canyon near the parking area to determine whether a flood-mitigation device constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the aftermath of the Cerro Grande Fire is affecting the transfer of water-borne materials from the surface to deep underground. The activity will affect the parking area for several months.
"This project will involve a lot of heavy equipment," said William Stone, technical leader of the project and a member Earth and Environmental Sciences (EES) Division. "Therefore, we feel that we must close the parking area to ensure that no member of the public is exposed to any safety risk during the course of this project. We are hoping that members of the public who frequently use the parking area will exhibit understanding and patience throughout the closure period."
Two of the boreholes will extend at an angle from the edge of the parking lot to areas beneath lower Los Alamos Canyon upstream of the flood-control structure. The structure, called a weir, is visible from the parking lot and is constructed of large stones contained within wire baskets. The third borehole will be completed as a long-term monitoring well and extend vertically beside the Los Alamos Canyon stream channel.
By drilling at an angle, researchers will be able to intersect
the area below the stream channel and gain insight into how runoff
migrates from the surface to the subsurface. Researchers will
use a long membrane reminiscent of an inside-out sock to gather
information along the bore holes of the two angular wells.
The socks will soak up liquids or vapors and retain them at their
relative positions along the bore hole. By analyzing residue left
on the membranes, scientists will gather information about whether
contaminants are migrating downward from the surface, how rock
layers potentially affect the migration of these contaminants,
and how runoff in the canyon affects contaminant flow, transport
and chemistry.
Water flow over the surface of some Laboratory property can pick up extremely low concentrations of contaminants left behind from historical Laboratory operations. Los Alamos Canyon is one area where Laboratory researchers have identified residual contaminants.
By constructing the boreholes and monitoring well, Laboratory researchers hope to be able to answer the key question of whether the weir is doing what is was constructed to do: to prevent or greatly decrease the potential migration of contaminants from Los Alamos Canyon to other areas.
The new monitoring site will be located about a quarter mile downstream of two existing monitoring wells in lower Los Alamos Canyon. By comparing the quality of perched groundwater upstream with perched groundwater from the area behind the weir, the researchers hope to document and observe any changes in water chemistry that could be attributed to runoff. These perched groundwater bodies lie above the regional aquifer and are segregated from it by layers of dry rock.
By checking water and vapor chemistry of materials absorbed by the membranes of the two angular wells, the researchers will be able to test whether contaminants are moving downward, and potentially will be able to cross-reference the effects of these contaminants on perched groundwater zones using samples taken from the vertical well.
The shallow perched water zones beneath the Los Alamos Canyon floor are hundreds of feet above the aquifer that supplies Los Alamos with drinking water. Existing test wells located upstream of the weir have not detected contaminant concentrations in the regional aquifer that are above federal drinking water standards.
When drilling the new boreholes, scientists plan to tap two perched groundwater zones, one approximately 150 feet below the surface and the other approximately 270 feet below the surface. Laboratory hydrologists estimate the regional aquifer is located approximately 650 feet below the surface at this location. The vertical well will penetrate both perched zones, and one of the angular boreholes will penetrate the top perched zone. None of the wells will extend into the regional aquifer.
Because scientists will use air-rotary drilling techniques to construct the new test wells, they will not introduce fluids down the well bores. Moreover, the boreholes will be sealed to prevent any surface water from migrating downward. Los Alamos scientists have used similar methods to construct other monitoring and surveillance wells in the Los Alamos area, and have not observed the introduction of surface contaminants into groundwater bodies through well bores.
The monitoring well project will use the expertise of hydrologists and researchers from the Laboratory's Environment, Safety and Health (ESH) Division and the Environmental Restoration Program (E-ER) Office, as well as from the EES. Funding for the project comes from federal dollars distributed to the Laboratory to help facilitate fire recovery activities in the Los Alamos area.
Stone said he expects the White Rock Y parking lot to reopen in mid-to-late summer.
--James E. Rickman
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Second session on LDRD exploratory research proposals is today at Lab The Laboratory Directed Research and Development (STB-LDRD) Program Office is hosting a second "How To's for Prospective PIs," at 9 a.m. today in the Physics Building Auditorium at Technical Area 3. There is no cost to attend this session. The sessions are for principal investigators planning to write a Laboratory Directed Research and Development Exploratory Research proposal. The proposals are due by April 23. For more information, see March 20 Daily Newsbulletin. |
Los Alamos Research Park Opens
The first of five planned buildings in the Los Alamos Research Park will be dedicated at a ceremony on Saturday. The dedication by the Los Alamos Commerce and Development Corp. comes less than one year after the start of construction.
Saturday's events begin with an invitation-only roundtable breakfast for CEO's of Research Park companies. The breakfast, which features a discussion focused on growing and expanding businesses in the Northern New Mexico region, will be hosted by United States Senator Jeff Bingaman, D-NM. Employees are invited to a dedication ceremony scheduled at 11 a.m. on the fourth floor of the new building.
Open Houses will be held for Laboratory employees from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. next Monday and Tuesday (March 26 and 27). The first 100 Laboratory employees each day that visit the Research Park will receive a $2 off coupon to the new Hot Rocks Java Café located in the Research Park. Visitors to both the Dedication and Open Houses should park in the Laboratory's Administration parking lot in front of the Otowi Building at Technical Area 3.
Construction on the first Research Park building began on March 29, 2000 and, in spite of delays during the Cerro Grande Fire, was completed under budget and ahead of schedule. Initially there will be approximately 20 Laboratory employees from various divisions working in the Research Park space along with their industrial cohorts from Compaq and Motorola Labs. Construction on the next phase of the Research Park will begin as the need for additional space develops - perhaps as early as next year.
Laboratory researchers who are working on collaborations with external companies and organizations are encouraged to contact Tony Beugelsdijk in the Laboratory's Industrial Business Development (IBD) Office to see how the Research Park might further their collaborations.
--Todd Hanson
Santa Clara Pueblo meeting
Laboratory Director John Browne, right, speaks with Santa Clara Pueblo Gov. Denny Gutierrez, center, during a meeting Wednesday in the Santa Clara tribal administration building. Browne, Dick Burick, left, deputy Laboratory Director for Operations, other Lab officials and tribal officials from Cochiti, Santa Clara, Jemez and San Ildefonso met to discuss the cooperative agreement between the University of California, which runs the Lab for the Department of Energy, and the four nearby pueblos. The cooperative agreement allows for interactions between the Lab and the pueblos on issues of mutual concern. Photo by LeRoy N. Sanchez, Public Affairs
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The Los Alamos Study Group has been granted approval to conduct a silent vigil at Laboratory Technical Area 3 from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. today. The group will hold the vigil in the parking lot off Pajarito Road, near the Van de Graaff facility. In addition, the group has received approval to distribute leaflets from 7 to 8:30 a.m. today. The number of participants for both the vigil and the leafletting is expected to be fewer than 10. For more information see March 20 Daily Newsbulletin. |
Horizons will become broader for teenage
girls
An estimated 150 teenagers from around Northern and Central New Mexico will discover the wonderment of math and science as participants in the national Expanding Your Horizons program next Wednesday (March 28) at the Laboratory.
During the all-day event, students in grades eight through 10 will take part in hands-on workshops presented by female scientists, engineers and professionals from around the area. Workshops will include demonstrations on a variety of subjects, including computer hardware, astronomy, web page development, robotics, fluid instabilities and veterinary medicine.
The EYH program has a two-fold agenda, according to Logistical Coordinator Diane Lamkin. A human resources generalist assigned to Engineering Sciences and Applications (ESA) Division, Lamkin is recruiting female volunteers from around the Laboratory to escort 150 individuals around the Lab, seeing to safety, security and other concerns.
The program is intended for girls who already show an interest in math and science as well as those who are uncertain about their career paths.
The forum is an opportunity to meet and form personal contact with women working in traditional male occupations, Lamkin said.
Lynda Williams, professor at San Francisco State University, will perform songs pertaining to physics at an end-of-the-day concert. Her performance will be tailored for young women considering careers in science.
Williams will give a similar performance to the general public at 6:30 that evening at the Bradbury Science Museum. She also is scheduled to perform for the Women's Diversity Working Group at 11:30 a.m. on March 29 in the Jemez/Cochti rooms of the J. Robert Oppenheimer Study Center.
Schools in Northern and Central New Mexico can nominate five to seven girls to attend the EYH at Los Alamos, or girls can fill out a registration form at http://www.t12.lanl.gov/home/lawis/eyh online.
In addition to activities for students, teachers will have the opportunity to learn new techniques for teaching science to young women. Morning workshops will focus on gender equity; there will be classroom demonstrations in the afternoon. Teachers attending the workshops must have a student enrolled in the event.
The Los Alamos chapter of EYH is sponsored by the New Mexico Network for Women in Science and Engineering and the Los Alamos Women in Science.
The NMNWSE is a non-profit organization with a membership of more than 100 female scientists and engineers who volunteer their time and energy to ensure that young people, especially young women, have access to information on exciting and meaningful careers in the sciences and engineering, according to information provided by the EYH committee.
For more information, contact EYH chair Dana Roberson of Application Development and Support at Johnson Controls Northern New Mexico at 7-3935.
--C. Michael Carlson
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Los Alamos News Letter The next issue of the Los Alamos News Letter will be distributed this week. This issue features a story on the very successful instrumentation on the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous spacecraft. The issue will also have articles on the Gifting Program and a special guest editorial by Physics (P) Division Director Sue Seestrom. The employee spotlight is on a group leader who enjoys writing mysteries. If you don't receive the correct amount of the publication for all employees' mailboxes, please call the mailroom at 7-4166 and adjust the number you need. The Los Alamos News Letter also is available at http://www.lanl.gov/worldview/news/lanl_archive.shtml online and in bright blue distribution boxes at various locations at the Lab. |
Poison Prevention Week
March 18 through 24 is the 40th observance of National Poison Prevention Week, which aims to help prevent childhood poisonings by reminding people to check their homes.
The University of California's UC Newswire has a news release offering poison prevention tips.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission also issued a news release on poison prevention week. Click here to read the news release.
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On today's bulletin board |
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Commuter's Corner | Parking areas around TA-3 | Parking shuttle routes (pdf) or jpeg |
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Activist to hand out leaflets, hold silent
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