New LANL cleanup documents posted on chromium, waste, stormwater oversight

Cleanup timelines, contamination questions and runoff controls at Los Alamos National Laboratory all got new paperwork in front of the public with the latest posting to the laboratory’s Electronic Public Reading Room. For Los Alamos County residents tracking environmental oversight, the new records show where regulators are still asking for more documentation, where cleanup progress is being measured, and how stormwater discharge remains under permit.

The reading room is more than a file cabinet. LANL says it contains documents required for compliance with environmental regulations and permits, and the research library says the records are organized by category and regulatory type, with material added in the last 30 days available through a New Records in EPRR link. Legacy cleanup documents required to be posted after April 30, 2018, are also made publicly available there, making the site a routine but important transparency tool for people watching compliance work at the laboratory.

Among the newly listed records is a review and annual progress report on chromium interim measure and characterization work covering April 2024 through March 2025, Revision 1. The chromium effort matters because DOE’s Environmental Management Los Alamos Field Office has said the Chromium Interim Measures are intended to prevent further migration of a chromium plume from LANL, including the Mortandad Canyon area. DOE said an independent review of the Chromium Interim Measures Remediation System was issued in December 2024, partial operation resumed in September 2024 in alignment with New Mexico Environment Department authorization, and NMED later directed EM-LA to cease all injection operations on November 18, 2025.

Another posted record is a notice of disapproval tied to a request for a certificate of completion for Solid Waste Management Unit 54-005 in the Middle Canada del Buey Aggregate Area. That title points to a cleanup process that has been moving through regulatory review for years, not a new dispute. A 2009 investigation report covered studies from 1999 to 2008, and an earlier 2011 request for certificates of completion in the area shows the closure process has been underway for a long time.

The third document is a SIP approval and minor modification for the LANL Stormwater Individual Permit, NPDES permit No. NM0030759. That permit authorizes discharge of storm water associated with historical industrial activities at specified solid waste management units and areas of concern across the laboratory. EPA correspondence shows an updated Sampling Implementation Plan was submitted electronically on July 8, 2024, and approved on July 31, 2024 as a minor modification to the permit.

Taken together, the three records show the same pattern: cleanup at LANL advances through reports, disapprovals, permit changes and public posting, with each step carrying implications for contamination control, runoff management and the county’s long-running demand for environmental accountability.