Field crews conduct drilling operations at R-80 monitoring well in Mortandad Canyon. The new well will further characterization efforts in the Northeast portion of the hexavalent chromium plume. Courtesy/EM-LA
By KIRSTEN LASKEY
Los Alamos Daily Post
kirsten@ladailypost.com
Acting Environmental Management-Los Alamos Field Office (EM-LA) Manager Stanley Pyram emphasized during the Los Alamos County Council meeting July 7 that the interim measure the field office is using to mitigate the hexavalent chromium plume is working. Yet, New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) has issued three stop work orders and the latest has been in effect since November 2025.
When Councilor David Reagor asked why, Pyram said he felt that was a question for the state.
The Los Alamos Daily Post reached out to NMED for comment on its reasons for issuing the stop work orders.
NMED Director of Communications Drew Goretzka said, “The New Mexico Environment Department ordered N3B and Department of Energy to halt its chromium plume treatment operations due to concerns that the methods being used could push the toxic plume further into the aquifer. Those concerns were validated last fall when monitoring confirmed the plume had migrated beneath Pueblo de San Ildefonso.”
Goretzka added, “NMED is actively working with U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management leadership to identify an alternative treatment approach that will accurately characterize the plume, stop its migration, and ultimately remediate the aquifer.”
The interim measure in question involves a pump and treat system. The water is pumped out of the aquifer and into an ion exchange column to be treated and then into a second column to be treated again. Once the water is cleaned, it is pumped through an injection well back into the aquifer.
Council Vice Chair Ryn Herrmann commented during the July 7 council meeting that it is worrisome that all the parties involved in this cleanup are not in agreement on what needs to be done to mitigate the plume.
“…it’s incredibly worrisome that we just can’t get together at the table to figure out how to move forward from this,” she said. “The path forward seems difficult to come to, and it just seems like we should be working together better. It seems like you are committed to that but not everybody is and that is incredibly worrisome as a citizen here.”
Pyram said EM-LA is having every stakeholder come to the table to move the mission forward. He added not all the answers have been uncovered, which is why data collection is so important.
Just because the interim measure is halted does not mean that work regarding the plume has ceased. Pyram said EM-LA continues to drill wells and evaluate the process of injecting the treated water back into the ground. He added an expert technical review team did a review and a key highlight is that the interim measure is the most important process in dealing with the hexavalent chromium plume.
“One of the key aspects of us managing that IM system is what we call the adaptive site management,” Pyram said. “Part of the system allows us, as we collect more data, to be able to use data to help support our decision-making process and bring the different stakeholders to the table so we can have a conversation in how we select those wells, what’s the process, what’s the monitoring well that is giving us the data and supporting our decision.”
To move the mission forward, Pyram said unity is key. There will be disagreements, he said, but it needs to be done in a professional manner “where we can all get together to pull in the same direction with the same goal, which is … to protect the environment, the public and the people.”
The plume was discovered in 2004 and is in the regional groundwater aquifer 1,000 feet beneath Mortandad and Sandia Canyon at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), It was determined to be above the New Mexico groundwater standard of 50 micrograms per liter.
Pyram said the plume is slow moving and “poses no immediate threat to the public and the private drinking wells.”
The interim measure is not considered a cure-all, he said.
However, “When the IM system is operating, it does have a positive effect on the plume,” Pyram said. “It is efficient. During the shutdowns that was directed by NMED, we have seen a spike … on the hexavalent chromium. When the IM starts back up again, it is working.”
To restart the interim measure, he said EM-LA continues to engage the state, with the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management’s support. Pyram said it is a top priority at EM-LA to get the interim measure restarted.
The hexavalent chromium plume was just one subject Pyram discussed during the council meeting. He also provided an update on the Ion Beam Facility, which is a 60,000 square feet facility built in 1951 that was used for two of the largest Van de Graaff accelerators.
Pyram said an “amazing team” is working on the facility’s disposition.
Removing the facility, he said, “supports the LANL modernization process. Once we remove that building, NNSA will be able to put new facilities on top of it to support their mission.”
Recent activity included removing large equipment and abating the roof to deal with the asbestos, Pyram said. Also, the accelerator was cut to get it out of the building. Additionally, N3B President Brad Smith reported on the transuranic (TRU) waste shipment efforts.
Thus far in Fiscal Year 2026, Smith said 64 TRU shipments have been made to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in Carlsbad. This he said, is a 49 percent increase from Fiscal Year 2025.
“We are making really good progress,” Smith said.
Despite WIPP being in an outage and not accepting new waste, “We continue to characterize and stage so when they open back up – we expect sometime in late July, early August to recommence shipments. So, anything we can do to accelerate that, we are doing.”
Besides making shipments to WIPP, Smith said 977 cubic meters of low-level waste have been shipped off the Hill to Texas and Utah. Looking ahead, Smith said N3B will continue making an inventory of above-ground waste for the next two years. It also is implementing a new documented safety analysis and technical safety requirements. As far as environmental remediation, Smith said two groundwater monitoring wells are being drilled. Cleanup goals in 12 aggregate areas, which are watersheds or canyons that contain soil or debris contaminated from legacy operations at LANL, are being advanced.
Smith said he is proud of N3B’s employees and what they have accomplished.
“I am so proud of the workforce, he said. “They are very committed to what we do.”
“It’s a great honor to do this mission,” Smith added. “I think everyone can agree that environmental remediation is paramount for us because it does protect not only ourselves but our future and our future generations that are going to be here.”
