NNSA News:
The Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration’s (DOE/NNSA) Los Alamos Field Office has issued a Floodplain Statement of Findings for proposed construction and upgrade activities in lower Sandia Canyon at Technical Area (TA) 72 at the Outdoor Live Fire Range facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL).
The proposed upgrades are intended to improve range safety to help fulfill the mission requirements of maintaining a trained and qualified armed Protective Force.
The project activities within the 100-year floodplain include:
- Installation of eight permanent flagpoles;
- Installation of a weatherproof electronic range status board;
- Removal of a backstop berm on a decommissioned range; and
- Removing structures and replacing at least two with new storage structures on existing gravel pads.
Two additional activities are proposed for areas outside of the floodplain. The first is to replace broken poles on a training structure to the southeast of building 72-0040. The second is to correct erosion on a backstop berm on the far northeast end of the Outdoor Firing Range. Small erosion channels on the back slope of the berm will be filled in and stabilized with a rolled erosion product.
Eight permanent flagpoles are proposed to replace temporary flagpoles at individual firing ranges within the larger TA-72 Outdoor Live Fire Range facility. The tilt-based cone tapered aluminum poles will be approximately 30 feet in height. Each pole will be mounted with a night vision compatible steady burning red obstruction light powered by a small integrated photocell.
The light will indicate during range use if a range is active or not and the pole height will ensure the light can be seen throughout the facility. The poles require a 3-foot 6-inch deep by 2-foot 6inch wide concrete footing to attach the pole’s cast aluminum shoe base. The project includes excavating approximately 4-foot deep x 3-foot wide holes for the concrete bases.
DOE/NNSA has reevaluated the Proposed Action and found that there are no alternatives that would locate the Proposed Action outside a floodplain and identified mitigation measures that would avoid or minimize impacts to the floodplain.
DOE/NNSA did not receive any comments during the 15-day Floodplain Assessment public review and comment period. Upon completion of the Proposed Action the floodplain will retain the same values and functions as present prior to the upgrade activities.
The Statement of Findings may be accessed online at https://www.energy.gov/nepa/articles/los-alamos-national-laboratory-floodplain-statement-findings-technical-area-72.