NNSA Los Alamos Field Office updates council on waste shipments, transmission line, and sitewide NEPA work

Ted Wyka, manager of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Los Alamos Field Office, told the Los Alamos County Council on Sept. 16 that the field office and Los Alamos National Laboratory remain focused on mission work while advancing several environmental and infrastructure actions of local interest.

Wyka said laboratory funding is “steady with a slight upward trajectory” tied to federal budget actions and that LANL plans to replace roughly 900 annual attritions and add modest new hires; the field office itself remains in a hiring freeze. He told the council the lab expects continued spending on construction and national security activities and reported “operational improvements” including higher bus ridership and repaving work on the truck route to improve safety.

Why it matters: the updates outline projects and safety actions that affect traffic, local emergency response, environmental cleanup and long‑term land use near Los Alamos.

Among the items Wyka detailed:

- NEPA/sitewide EIS: NNSA is preparing a sitewide environmental impact statement (SWICE/SWIE) to assess potential new or expanded operations at LANL and is completing internal reviews ahead of a planned publication in November; decisions and appendices will follow federal NEPA process and be posted to the relevant NEPA platforms. Wyka said the SWICE is meant to analyze activities not previously covered in NEPA documents.

- EPCU transmission upgrade: NNSA executed required agreements with the State Historic Preservation Office, advisory councils and the U.S. Forest Service under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act and published findings of no significant impact for the Electrical Power Capacity Upgrade (EPCU). Wyka said on‑site infrastructure work would begin in fall 2025 and construction of a new transmission line on Bureau of Land Management and Santa Fe National Forest lands is scheduled to start in fall 2026; NNSA’s Acquisition and Project Management Office will lead execution.

- Rendija (Rindija) Canyon land transfer / UXO survey: NNSA is working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on an interagency agreement to scope and price additional unexploded ordnance (UXO) clearance and a subsurface survey to about 4 feet over roughly 28 acres identified by county staff for a proposed RV park and utility/road rights‑of‑way. Wyka said the Corps’ cost estimate work is being scoped and a price estimate is expected in the coming months before contracting.

- Waste shipping and depressurization of tritium containers: Wyka said the field office projects 76 transuranic (TRU) shipments this fiscal year and that LANL has shipped “more than 3,000 cubic meters” of chemical and hazardous material off the site to licensed facilities. He reported progress on a multiyear effort to depressurize four tritium‑containing waste containers located in Area G: NMED provided temporary authorization Sept. 8, the depressurization work began the weekend before the council meeting, the first drum was depressurized with a headspace pressure reading of zero and no leakage was detected, and the operation is proceeding under close monitoring with state and federal observers. Wyka said the team expects no off‑site impacts and aims to complete operations before colder weather complicates work.

- Fire department cooperative agreement and NFPA standard: Wyka said NNSA directed its contractor (Triad) to implement the consolidated NFPA 1580 standard for emergency responder occupational health; phased implementation began June 23 and is expected to complete by Sept. 30, 2026. He also described ongoing cooperative‑agreement meetings with county staff on fire‑response staffing and coordination.

- Traffic safety and speed cameras: Wyka said the lab is coordinating with the Los Alamos Police Department on placement of speed cameras along the truck route; once LAPD completes procurement and provides camera locations, the lab will install utility hookups and poles. He said the field office is working with the county on a memorandum of understanding for camera enforcement at the lab.

Councilors asked for more detail on the Rendija UXO timeline, the expected duration to depressurize the remaining drums (Wyka described a rule of thumb of roughly one hour per 10 pounds of pressure, with larger pressures requiring multiple hours), and historical comparisons on TRU shipping timelines. Wyka said shipping tempos have improved from multi‑hundreds of days per drum to “high double digits.”

Wyka closed by saying NNSA would provide the council notice when SWICE materials and any related decisions are published and pledged to share traffic and ridership data with county staff upon request.