It Takes a Team: The Omega West Reactor D&D

摘要

Between May 4 and June 10, 2000, a devastating wildfire swept across the Bandelier National Monument in the Jemez Mountains of northern New Mexico and onto the U.S. Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The Cerro Grande fire burned about 43 000 acres, including 7500 acres of LANL property. Large areas of vegetation in the Jemez Mountains surrounding LANL were destroyed. The DOE, LANL, other federal agencies, and the state of New Mexico initiated prompt actions to identify and mitigate the risks from the fire's aftermath. Assessments conducted after the fire determined that serious environmental and safety problems associated with flash floods, erosion, and contaminant runoff would persist at LANL for a number of years. Because the Omega West Reactor was located in a potential flash flood area, the decision was made to accelerate the facility's decontamination and decommissioning (D&D). The Cerro Grande Rehabilitation Project (CGRP) was put in place to guide, direct, and fund the restoration of LANL and the surrounding communities to their prefire state, in addition to helping the lab and the community reduce vulnerabilities to future disasters. The Omega West D&D was one of many projects conducted under the umbrella of the CGRP.