On Friday, Nov. 14, the National Nuclear Security Administration and Los Alamos National Laboratory successfully shipped the fourth and final flanged tritium waste container off-site for permanent storage.
The same day, NNSA and LANL released the FTWC Radioactive Air Emissions Summary, Volume 1 Stack Emissions & Off-Site Dose Consequence report. This first volume summarizes operations, documents emissions measurements, and reports radiological dose to the hypothetical Maximally Exposed Individual (MEI) member of the public resulting from the operation. The report joins many other documents on LANL’s FTWCs treatment project on LANL’s Flanged Tritium Waste Container webpage.
Emissions for the entire operation were less than 123 curies. Using actual weather data and formally analyzing the results, the calculated off-site dose was less than 0.012 millirem to a hypothetical MEI member of the public. For reference, a cross-country round-trip airplane flight results in about 3.7 mrem of radiation exposure.
The second volume to the report will include soil sampling data and ambient air measurement data taken during and after FTWC operations. Volume 2 will be issued in 2026 as there is a longer turnaround time to evaluate this data. Volume 2 will also have detailed analysis of the plume modeling performed for the project, comparing stack emissions with air concentrations at downwind locations.
“The depressurization of these containers posed a unique challenge for our engineers and radiological experts,” said Ted Wyka. “They planned and meticulously executed the operation to ensure there was no risk of explosion or other hazards to workers, the public or the environment. Emissions were very low and the operation went off as smoothly as it could have.”
The flanged tritium waste containers were placed in temporary storage in 2007. The depressurization operation was conducted to relieve any pressure that could have built up over time to ensure transportation would be done safely. None of the four containers had pressure build-up.
The operation to depressurize the four containers began on Sept. 15, 2025, and took place over several days.
NNSA will hold a virtual and in-person public meeting to discuss the report and the project within the next couple of weeks. Details will be publicly announced. Please continue to follow https://www.lanl.gov/engage/environment/ftwc for the latest updates.
