LOS ALAMOS, N.M. – N3B has have finished cleaning up PCB-contaminated soil near the former Omega research reactor site at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
The PCB-contaminated soil was located in Los Alamos Canyon at Technical Area 02 (TA-02). The source of the contamination is suspected to have been electrical transformers that served the Omega Site.
The contamination was discovered during investigation sampling of a former storm drain next to where the electrical transformers were located.
Workers removed 300 cubic yards of PCB-contaminated soil from the TA-02 site and restored the area to its original contour. Because of the tight confines of the cleanup site in Los Alamos Canyon, the excavated soil was securely placed in five-cubic-yard Super Sacks, which were staged temporarily at a nearby location. The material will be transported to a licensed site in Utah for disposal.
Omega Site housed several research reactors, the first of which was built in 1943 at the beginning of the Manhattan Project. The last reactor operated until 1992 and site facilities were demolished in 2003.
Newport News Nuclear BWXT Los Alamos (N3B) is a limited liability company owned by HII Nuclear, a subsidiary of Huntington Ingalls Industries, and BWX Technologies. N3B manages the $1.38 billion, 10-year Los Alamos Legacy Cleanup Contract at the Los Alamos National Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, Los Alamos Field Office.