NNSA and Los Alamos National Laboratory begin depressurization of waste containers

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) issued this news release on Tuesday, Sept. 16.

The National Nuclear Security Administration and Los Alamos National Laboratory have begun to depressurize small amounts of built-up gas in four waste containers that have been in temporary storage at the lab since 2007. 

NNSA and the Lab have received authorization from federal and state agencies to safely depressurize the containers, one at a time. The process will follow all applicable environmental and safety regulations and will not result in a danger to workers and the public.

The Lab’s webpage on the project details the current status of operations, includes answers to common questions, and provides numerous project-related documents available for download.

The entire project is expected to take approximately two weeks to complete. The schedule remains subject to change due to weather.

At the completion of the project, NNSA will provide a summary of the operations, which will include detailed monitoring data.