Soil Cleanup at Upper Los Alamos Canyon

1/8 The cleanup site was carefully surveyed using state of the art landscape survey instruments prior to soil removal.
Photo courtesy of
2/8 Before beginning soil excavation, workers prepared the site and staged equipment.
Photo courtesy of
3/8 The steep terrain required careful maneuvering of the heavy equipment.
Photo courtesy of
4/8 When excavated, soil contaminated with low levels of plutonium was loaded into double-lined waste bags.
Photo courtesy of
5/8 Bags of contaminated soil were then sealed and screened.
Photo courtesy of
6/8 Once sealed and screened, the bags of contaminated soil were transported to the top of the canyon and secured on flatbed trucks.
Photo courtesy of
7/8 The bags of contaminated soil were then transferred to a DOE waste staging area before shipment to a licensed off-site disposal
Photo courtesy of
8/8 Following cleanup, the site was verified to have met regulatory standards and restored to natural conditions.
Photo courtesy of

The U.S. Department of Energy Environmental Management Los Alamos Field Office (EM-LA) and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) have completed a project to remove contaminated soil from four legacy waste sites along the south-facing slopes of Los Alamos Canyon adjacent to the Los Alamos Townsite. The pictures above tell the story of the cleanup.

The Project at a Glance

  • The contaminated soil was primarily associated with legacy outfalls from the Manhattan Project and early Cold War research activities from 1943 until the early 1950s.
  • The total combined area cleaned up was less than one acre.
  • The project was part of the Historical Properties Completion Campaign, one of the campaigns included within the recently finalized 2016 Compliance Order on Consent (Consent Order).
  • Plans are underway to complete sampling and cleanup work at the remaining sites in the area in fiscal year 2017.