The RadioActivist Campaign
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Document Type
Report
Date
11-2003
Description
The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Risk Reduction and Environmental Stewardship Program monitors contaminants migrating off the 40 square mile, Department of Energy (DOE) site. While LANL has reported contaminated storm water running off the site after the wildfires of 2000, LANL has not reported any nuclear waste leaking into the Rio Grande. In Fall 2002 and Spring 2003, The RadioActivist Campaign (TRAC) joined a research team, collaborating with Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety (CCNS), to study the LANL bank of the Rio Grande. TRAC checked whether any radioactivity from LANL is already leaking into the Rio Grande at detectable levels. TRAC focused on sampling Spring 4A, which flows into Pajarito Stream and then into the Rio Grande. Spring 4A is relatively close to LANL facilities and has an unusually large flow. Low activities of a natural, short-lived radioactive tracer, beryllium-7, showed that the waters in Spring 4A and Pajarito Stream are almost undiluted groundwater. Samples from both Spring 4A and Pajarito Stream contained consistently low levels of cesium-137 of LANL origin. This is the first confirmed detection of LANL radioactivity entering the Rio Grande from a groundwater pathway. This is an early warning for the public to take an active role in LANL oversight to protect and restore the Rio Grande.
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.
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Publisher
The RadioActivist Campaign (TRAC)
Format
Keywords
nuclear weapons, nuclear weapons testing, environment, non-governmental organizations, United States Department of Energy, tribal governments, environmental cleanup, radioactive fallout, radioactive waste
Rights
Copyright belongs to the authors. Clark University was chosen by the non-profit peace and environmental groups as the conservator of these reports; our right to distribute these works ensures they remain available to the public in perpetuity as intended. Reuse at your own discretion with with due deference to copyright holders.
Location
Belfair, WA
Recommended Citation
Buske, Norm and The RadioActivist Campaign (TRAC), "Early Warning: A Radioactive Rio Grande" (2003). The RadioActivist Campaign. 4.
https://commons.clarku.edu/radioactivist/4