Citizen Action (through New Mexico Community Foundation)
Citizen Action (through New Mexico Community Foundation) is one of 39 environmental and peace organizations that won a landmark lawsuit against the U.S Department of Energy for failure to follow-through on adequate environmental cleanup during its 50+ years of nuclear weapons research, testing, and production. Part of this settlement was the establishment of the MTA Fund (Citizens’ Monitoring and Technical Assessment Fund), which provided $6.25 million for tribes and non-profit organizations to assess and conduct independent technical and scientific studies regarding the multitude of technical, ecological, and health issues surrounding the nation’s nuclear weapons complex.
Clark University was chosen by the non-profit peace and environmental groups as the conservator of these reports to ensure they remain available to the public in perpetuity. The unconventional election of university as conservator is an innovative example, particularly within the era of Web 1.0, of higher education as protector and provider of information through wide dissemination.
The research and reports available in this series were conducted by Citizen Action (through New Mexico Community Foundation) with their allocated portion of the MTA fund.
If you have any questions or concerns please contact us at digitalrepository@clarku.edu.
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Public Comments Public Hearing for Mixed Waste Landfill
Citizen Action (through New Mexico Community Foundation)
Of the 36 members of the public who testified in support of excavation and clean up of the Mixed Waste Landfill, 16 represented local organizations that included the Sierra Club, Central New Mexico Chapter; the New Mexico Public Health Association; the Albuquerque/Bernalillo Groundwater Protection Advisory Board; the Rio Grande Community Development Corporation; Mountain View Neighborhood Association; Native Forest Network; Gray Panthers, Albuquerque Chapter; Albuquerque Unitarian and Universalist Fellowship; Citizens for Alternatives to Radioactive Dumping; Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety; Veterans for Peace; Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice; Stop the War Machine; Physicians for Social Responsibility; Archdiocese of Santa Fe, Ecological Ministry, Order of St. Francis; and People Not Profit.
This document contains quotes taken from the Hearing transcripts from several members of the public who testified at the Public Hearing for the Mixed Waste Landfill over the course of four days.
This research was completed money allocated during Round 6 of the Citizens’ Monitoring and Technical Assessment Fund (MTA Fund). Clark University was named conservator of these works.
If you have any questions or concerns please contact us at digitalrepository@clarku.edu
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Synopsis of Reports by Citizen Action Independent Experts re: Corrective Measures Study for Mixed Waste Landfill Sandia National Labs/U.S. Department of Energy
Citizen Action (through New Mexico Community Foundation)
Background: Through a grant awarded to Citizen Action from the Citizens’ Monitoring and Technical Assessment Fund (CMTA), Citizen Action hired two consultants to independently review Sandia’s study of options for the Mixed Waste Landfill. This study of options is known as a “Corrective Measures Study” or a CMS. The New Mexico Environment Department required Sandia to conduct a CMS for the Mixed Waste Landfill as a result of a request submitted by Citizen Action to investigate other alternatives for the waste.
Independent experts: The consultants included Marvin Resnikoff, Radioactive Waste Management Associates; and Paul Robinson, Southwest Research and Information Center. A third report conducted by Erik Ringelberg, Upstream Technologies, Inc., was funded under a separate grant (NMSEES). For consistency purposes the conclusions from his report are also included in the synopsis.
This research was completed money allocated during Round 4 of the Citizens’ Monitoring and Technical Assessment Fund (MTA Fund). Clark University was named conservator of these works.
If you have any questions or concerns please contact us at digitalrepository@clarku.edu
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Talking Points Related to Mixed Waste Landfill Permit Modification Hearing
Citizen Action (through New Mexico Community Foundation)
Attached are three talking point items for your consideration in making statements at the Mixed Waste Landfill Public Hearing beginning December 2 at the Radisson Hotel and Conference Center on Carlisle Blvd. north of I-40. They include: 1) A brief statement of Citizen Action’s objectives; 2) Mixed Waste Landfill - Why Clean Up?; and 3) Agenda for Meeting with Governor’s Environment/Energy Advisor.
This research was completed money allocated during Round 6 of the Citizens’ Monitoring and Technical Assessment Fund (MTA Fund). Clark University was named conservator of these works.
If you have any questions or concerns please contact us at digitalrepository@clarku.edu
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Covering Up 30 Years of Radioactive and Hazardous Waste: Mixed Waste Landfill from U.S. Department of Energy/Sandia National Laboratories
Citizen Action (through New Mexico Community Foundation) and Sue Dayton
Comments submitted to the NMED regarding the Class 3 Permit Modification/Corrective Measures Study for the Mixed Waste Landfill.
This research was completed money allocated during Round 4 of the Citizens’ Monitoring and Technical Assessment Fund (MTA Fund). Clark University was named conservator of these works.
If you have any questions or concerns please contact us at digitalrepository@clarku.edu
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New Mexico Environment Department Public Hearing on Corrective Measures Study Class 3 Permit Modification, Mixed Waste Landfill, Sandia National Laboratories
Citizen Action (through New Mexico Community Foundation) and Erik A. Ringelberg
This research was completed money allocated during Round 4 of the Citizens’ Monitoring and Technical Assessment Fund (MTA Fund). Clark University was named conservator of these works.
If you have any questions or concerns please contact us at digitalrepository@clarku.edu
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Analysis and Recommendations Regarding the Mixed Waste Landfill Corrective Measure Study Final Report Department of Energy and Sandia National Laboratories
Citizen Action (through New Mexico Community Foundation) and W. Paul Robinson
This research was completed money allocated during Round 4 of the Citizens’ Monitoring and Technical Assessment Fund (MTA Fund). Clark University was named conservator of these works.
If you have any questions or concerns please contact us at digitalrepository@clarku.edu
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Independent Evaluation of the Corrective Measures Study, Mixed Waste Landfill, Sandia National Laboratories
Citizen Action (through New Mexico Community Foundation); Amanda Schneider; and Marvin Resnikoff, Ph.D.
The Mixed Waste Landfill (MWL) covers 2.6 acres of technical area 3 at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL). It is approximately 5 miles southeast of Albuquerque International Sunport, at the edge of the rapidly developing city of Albuquerque. The region is arid. An aquifer approximately 460 feet below the MWL is the source for Albuquerque’s public drinking water. The landfill was operational from March 1959 to December 1988, accepting wastes from both SNL and other sites. The inventory of wastes deposited in the landfill from 1959 to 1964 is still classified by the Department of Energy and is unavailable. The wastes were disposed of in shallow unlined pits and trenches and covered in soil. Some of the pits in the classified area were capped with concrete. The surface area above some of the pits in the classified area currently have very high gamma rates, as reported in the RCRA Facility Investigation Phase 2 Report. These readings cannot be explained by the known inventory compiled by SNL. The known inventory includes at least 6,300 Ci of radioactivity at the time of disposal, as well as many nonradiological hazardous materials including metals and volatile organic contaminants (VOCs). It is suspected by citizen’s groups that spent oxide reactor fuels that should be considered high level waste (HLW) are buried in the classified area of the MWL, although this has been so far denied by Sandia/DOE and the NMED.
In September 1996, Sandia/DOE published the Report of the Mixed Waste Landfill Phase 2 RCRA Facility Investigation. This report included measurements of radionuclides, metals, and VOCs in the soil underneath the landfill and in groundwater. It also included measurements of tritium levels in soil and of tritium flux from the soil. The Phase 2 report concludes that tritium is the primary constituent of concern, although many other hazardous compounds were measured in soils and groundwater. The Phase 2 report was plagued by data analysis problems—many measurements that found unusually high levels of contaminants were discounted due to unidentified laboratory error, although measurements that found low levels were never discounted. The Phase 2 report contains a baseline risk assessment, which was heavily criticized by citizens groups and was eventually retracted by Sandia/DOE.
The Corrective Measures Study (CMS) is based on the information presented in the Phase 2 report and the preceding Phase 1 report, as well as other measurements made at the site, but does not include any new environmental data. The study states, “The purpose of the CMS is to identify and screen, develop, and evaluate potential corrective measures alternatives and recommend the corrective measure(s) action to be taken at the MWL”.
This research was completed money allocated during Round 4 of the Citizens’ Monitoring and Technical Assessment Fund (MTA Fund). Clark University was named conservator of these works.
If you have any questions or concerns please contact us at digitalrepository@clarku.edu
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Summaries of 3 Independent Reviews of the Mixed Waste Landfill
Citizen Action (through New Mexico Community Foundation)
Summaries of the following three independent studies: Review of the Risk Screening Assessment for the Mixed Waste Landfill, SWMU76, Review of Sandia National Laboratories/New Mexico Evapotranspiration Cap Closure Plans for the Mixed Waste Landfill, and Is ‘Trust Us, We’re the Government’ Really A Guarantee? A Review of Financial Assurance Options for Long-Term Stewardship at the Mixed Waste Landfill, Sandia National Laboratories.
This research was completed money allocated during Round 2 of the Citizens’ Monitoring and Technical Assessment Fund (MTA Fund). Clark University was named conservator of these works.
If you have any questions or concerns please contact us at digitalrepository@clarku.edu
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Review of Sandia National Laboratories/New Mexico Evapotranspiration Cap Closure Plans for the Mixed Waste Landfill
Citizen Action (through New Mexico Community Foundation) and Tom Hakonson, Ph.D.
The following report was made possible with a grant from the Monitoring and Technical Assessment Fund (MTA) to assist in performing independent technical studies of the Mixed Waste Landfill (MWL), a hazardous legacy waste site located at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL). The funding, established as a part of a $6.25 million court settlement between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and 39 nonprofit and environmental groups, assists tribes and other non-governmental organizations in conducting their own independent technical studies of sites at DOE facilities.
Citizen Action commissioned Dr. Tom Hakonson, a former environmental scientist with Los Alamos National Laboratory, to perform an independent peer review of the cap design proposed for the MWL. A copy of Dr. Hakonson’s curriculum vitae and published papers is included in his report.
This research was completed money allocated during Round 2 of the Citizens’ Monitoring and Technical Assessment Fund (MTA Fund). Clark University was named conservator of these works.
If you have any questions or concerns please contact us at digitalrepository@clarku.edu
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Is ‘Trust Us, We’re the Government’ Really A Guarantee? A Review of Financial Assurance Options for Long-Term Stewardship at the Mixed Waste Landfill, Sandia National Laboratories
Citizen Action (through New Mexico Community Foundation) and W. Paul Robinson
3 Executive Summary Citizen Action commissioned this study to identify and evaluate options for financial assurance that may apply to the Mixed Waste Landfill (MWL) at the Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) at Albuquerque, New Mexico. The report reviews legal aspects of this subject and evolving Department of Energy (DOE) policy on long-term management of waste sites, as well as specific examples of trust funds, DOE-contractor agreements and other state-based approaches to financial assurance at sites with similarities to Sandia’s Mixed Waste Landfill. This research has been supported by a grant from the Citizens’ Monitoring and Technical Assessment Fund administered by RESOLVE, Inc. Washington, DC.
This review identifies four options for financial assurance to guarantee of the performance of long-term care at waste disposal sites as required by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), (42 USC 6901 et seq.) and US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations (40 CFR 260 et seq.) pursuant to that Act. RCRA is a federal law that regulates solid and hazardous waste from generation through disposal referred to as a “cradle-to-grave” control program. This review focuses on the “grave” portion of the RCRA process, the requirements for closure and post-closure plans at waste disposal sites.
This research was completed money allocated during Round 2 of the Citizens’ Monitoring and Technical Assessment Fund (MTA Fund). Clark University was named conservator of these works.
If you have any questions or concerns please contact us at digitalrepository@clarku.edu
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Review of the Risk Screening Assessment for the Mixed Waste Landfill, SWMU76
Citizen Action (through New Mexico Community Foundation) and Marvin Resnikoff, Ph.D.
Citizen Action commissioned Dr. Marvin Resnikoff, Radioactive Waste Management Associates, New York, to review Sandia National Laboratories’ risk assessment for the Mixed Waste Landfill and evaluate whether the objectives identified under the Phase 2 RCRA Facility Investigation to “determine thoroughly the contaminant source, define the nature and extent of contamination, identify potential contaminant transport pathways, evaluate potential risks posed by the levels of contamination identified, and recommend remedial action, if warranted, for the landfill” were satisfied. A copy of Dr. Resnikoff’s curriculum vitae is included with this report.
This research was completed money allocated during Round 2 of the Citizens’ Monitoring and Technical Assessment Fund (MTA Fund). Clark University was named conservator of these works.
If you have any questions or concerns please contact us at digitalrepository@clarku.edu
