By Alaina Mencinger
Santa Fe New Mexican
December 7, 2024
A plan to release vapors from containers of radioactive waste has been put on ice.
As Los Alamos National Laboratory and the National Nuclear Security Administration wait for regulatory approval and warmer weather, the venting of four 51-gallon, stainless steel pressure containers containing tritium waste will likely have to wait until the spring, at least.
Venting wasn’t scheduled for this year, as the New Mexico Environment Department and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency hadn’t yet authorized the release, wrote LANL spokesman Steven Horak in an email to The New Mexican. Nevertheless, “readiness activities were conducted throughout the year” in case those approvals came though. …