LANL News:
Per regulatory requirements, Los Alamos National Laboratory released the 2021 LANL Radionuclide Air Emissions Report now avaialble for public viewing at LANL’s Electronic Reading Room.
As stated in the Executive Summary, this report describes the emissions of airborne radionuclides from operations at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) for calendar year 2021 and the resulting off-site dose from these emissions.
This document fulfills the requirements established by the National Emissions Standards for Hazardous
Air Pollutants in 40 CFR 61, Subpart H – Emissions of Radionuclides other than Radon from Department
of Energy Facilities, commonly referred to as the Radionuclide NESHAP or Rad-NESHAP. 1 Compliance with this regulation and preparation of this document is the responsibility of LANL’s RadNESHAP compliance program, which is part of the Environmental Protection and Compliance (EPC) Division.
The information in this report is required under the Clean Air Act and is being submitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Headquarters and EPA Region 6.
The highest effective dose equivalent (EDE) to an off-site member of the public was calculated using procedures specified by the EPA and described in this report. LANL’s EDE was 0.50 for 2021.
The annual limit is 10 millirem per year, established by the EPA in 40 CFR 61 Subpart H. All measured
air emissions are modeled to a single location, known as the Maximally Exposed Individual (MEI).
During calendar year 2021, LANL continuously monitored radionuclide emissions at 27 “major” release points, or stacks. The Laboratory estimates emissions from an additional 60 “minor” release points using radionuclide usage source terms in lieu of stack monitoring. Also, LANL uses an EPA approved network of air samplers around the Laboratory perimeter to monitor ambient airborne levels of radionuclides. To provide data for dispersion modeling and dose assessment, LANL maintains and operates meteorological monitoring systems. From these measurement systems, a comprehensive evaluation is conducted to calculate the MEI dose for the Laboratory.
The MEI can be any member of the public at any off-site location where there is a residence, school, business, or office. In 2021, this MEI location was a business at 132 DP Road, (Los Alamos Fire Station training center) located at the western end of DP Road. The primary contributor to the off-site dose at this location was the resuspension of legacy contaminants along DP Road during 2021; other contributors include radioactive gas emissions from sources at the LANSCE accelerator complex and potential emissions from minor sources throughout the Laboratory. Overall, the MEI dose in 2021 is similar to levels in recent years and is well below the EPA’s 10 millirem per year limit.
This document has been submitted to fulfill one or more requirements of the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
The public may view this document and many others at LANL’s Electronic Public Reading Room here.
