September 30, 2005

Characterization Wells at Los Alamos National Laboratory

The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), located on the Pajarito Plateau in Northern New Mexico, has been in operation since the early 1940’s. LANL is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) research and development facility operated by the University of California. Throughout its history, LANL has conducted experimental research on the development of nuclear weapons and explosive materials that has resulted in the generation and disposal of a variety of hazardous, radioactive, and solid wastes. LANL has disposed of these wastes in septic systems, pits, surface impoundments, trenches, shafts, landfills, and waste piles at the facility. LANL has also discharged industrial wastewater and other waste into many of the canyons at the facility.