Watchdogs want US to address extreme plutonium contamination in Los Alamos' Acid Canyon

Watchdogs are raising new concerns about legacy contamination in Los Alamos, the birthplace of the atomic bomb and home to a renewed effort to manufacture key components for nuclear weapons.

A Northern Arizona University professor emeritus who analyzed soil, water and vegetation samples taken along a popular hiking and biking trail in Acid Canyon said Thursday that there were more extreme concentrations of plutonium found there than at other publicly accessible sites he has researched in his decades-long career.

That includes land around the federal government's former weapons plant at Rocky Flats in Colorado.

While outdoor enthusiasts might not be in immediate danger while traveling through the pine tree-lined canyon, Michael Ketterer — who specializes in tracking the chemical fingerprints of radioactive materials — said state and local officials should be warning people to avoid coming in contact with water in Acid Canyon.

“This is an unrestricted area. I’ve never seen anything quite like it in the United States,” the professor told reporters. “It’s just an extreme example of very high concentrations of plutonium in soils and sediments. Really, you know, it's hiding in plain sight.”

Ketterer teamed up with the group Nuclear Watch New Mexico to gather the samples in July, a rainy period that often results in isolated downpours and stormwater runoff coursing through canyons and otherwise dry arroyos. Water was flowing through Acid Canyon when the samples were taken.

The work followed mapping done by the group earlier this year that was based on a Los Alamos National Laboratory database including plutonium samples from throughout the area.

Jay Coghlan, director of Nuclear Watch, said the detection of high levels of plutonium in the heart of Los Alamos is a concern, particularly as the lab — under the direction of Congress, the U.S. Energy Department and the National Nuclear Security Administration — gears up to begin producing the next generation of plutonium pits for the nation's nuclear arsenal.

He pointed to Acid Canyon as a place where more comprehensive cleanup should have happened decades ago.

“Cleanup at Los Alamos is long delayed,” Coghlan said, adding that annual spending for the plutonium pit work has neared $2 billion in recent years while the cleanup budget for legacy waste is expected to decrease in the next fiscal year.

From 1943 to 1964, liquid wastes from nuclear research at the lab was piped into the canyon, which is among the tributaries that eventually pass through San Ildefonso Pueblo lands on their way to the Rio Grande.

The federal government began cleaning up Acid Canyon in the late 1960s and eventually transferred the land to Los Alamos County. Officials determined in the 1980s that conditions within the canyon met DOE standards and were protective of human health and the environment.

The Energy Department's Office of Environmental Management at Los Alamos said Thursday it was preparing a response to Ketterer's findings.

Ketterer and Coghlan said the concerns now are the continued downstream migration of plutonium, absorption by plants and the creation of contaminated ash following wildfires.

Ketterer described it as a problem that cannot be fixed but said residents and visitors would appreciate knowing that it's there.

“It really can’t be undone,” he said. “I suppose we could go into Acid Canyon and start scooping out a lot more contaminated stuff and keep doing that. It’s kind of like trying to pick up salt that’s been thrown into a shag carpet. It’s crazy to think you’re going to get it all.”