Los Alamos National Laboratory

Los Alamos National Laboratory has reached a milestone in its campaign to ship transuranic (TRU) waste from Cold War-era nuclear operations to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad.

This month, the lab surpassed 100,000 plutonium-equivalent curies of TRU waste shipped to WIPP, about one-third of the lab’s total.

The waste, sent from LANL to WIPP in more than 750 shipments since 1999, has amounted to several hundred pounds of radioactive residue on gloves, lab equipment, and protective clothing.

As of May 23, there have been 789 shipments from LANL with close to 270,000 miles in transport.

Monitor Staff Report

Michael Anastasio said he had hoped to retire June 1 as the director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory. It looks like he got his wish.

On Thursday, Charles McMillan was appointed director of LANL and president of Los Alamos National Security, LLC (LANS), the company that manages and operates the lab for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).

The appointments were announced by Norman Pattiz, chairman of the LANS Board of Governors, and are effective June 1, 2011.

McMillan becomes the 10th director in the laboratory’s nearly 70-year history.

Longtime New Mexico environmental advocate Pete Maggiore joined the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Los Alamos Site Office this week as Deputy Assistant Manager for the Environmental Projects Office.
Maggiore, a Certified Professional Geologist with a masters degree in geology, brings more than 28 years of experience in environmental management, hydrogeology and geology.
From July 1998 through August 2002, he served as Secretary for the New Mexico Environment Department.
“Pete’s experience and insight into environmental management - from the field and as a regulator – adds a valuable element to our environmental program,” said LASO Manager Kevin Smith, “and we are very glad he is joining our team.”

Director Michael Anastasio has announced that Steven P. Girrens is the new associate director for engineering at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

“Steve is skilled at leading virtually all facets of engineering,” Anastasio said in a news release. “Whether it is preliminary design, analysis, computational modeling, commercialization or the transition to manufacturing, Steve has done it all.”

Girrens began working at LANL right out of college in January 1979.

“I’m enthused by the possibilities because my career at Los Alamos has taught me that the ultimate engineering challenge is enabling scientific discovery,” he said of his promotion.