Los Alamos National Laboratory

Officials are still working on the autopsy of the infamous aspen tree that caused the largest wildfire in New Mexico history and threatened the Los Alamos National Laboratory and Town Site.
Last month, Bob Parmenter, Dennis Trujillo, and Rebecca Oertel from the Valles Caldera, and Craig Allen, Collin Haffey, and Leanna Lucore from Bandelier, discovered the tree lying across the power line right-of-way on a ridge-top about a quarter mile west of Las Conchas.

The general thrust of Joni Arends’ presentation at Tuesday night’s Chemistry Metallurgy Research Replacement (CMRR) Project meeting was that the facility had to be designed for an 8.0 magnitude earthquake.

Lab officials, meanwhile, contend that the design should be able to withstand a 7.27 earthquake.

So who is right?

“Some of the points that were brought up in presentations were addressed in responses provided to comments made on the CMRR Supplemental EIS,” LANL’s Larry Goen said Wednesday. “The information we have gathered from the paleoseismic investigations do not suggest earthquakes as large as Magnitude 8 occur on the Pajarito Fault System.”

The New Mexico Environment Department met with representatives of the U.S. Department of Energy and Los Alamos National Laboratory on Monday to establish a framework for moving forward on Governor Martinez’s clean-up priorities for Los Alamos National Laboratory.
“Governor Martinez has emphasized that continued acceleration of above ground transuranic (TRU) waste disposal is a major priority, and protection of ground water and drinking water systems must continue to be priorities notwithstanding potential federal budget decreases,” New Mexico Environment Secretary David Martin said.  

Gov. Susana Martinez and New Mexico Environment Department Secretary David Martin met Tuesday with senior U.S. Department of Energy officials to discuss high priority issues for the ongoing environmental clean-up efforts at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
The meeting served as an opportunity for Martinez to meet Don Cook, deputy administrator for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s defense programs, David Huizenga, Acting Assistant Secretary for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management. Los Alamos Site Office Manager Kevin Smith, Deputy Assistant Secretary Frank Marcinowski of the Office of Regulatory Compliance and Assistant Manager for Environment George Rael at LASO also participated in the meeting.