Radioactive tritium release delayed again

Tribal women’s group takes credit as lab’s window for venting closes

Los Alamos National Laboratory’s plan to release radioactive tritium vapors into the atmosphere to vent four waste drums, which it first announced 3½ years ago, has been delayed again, at least in part because of an Indigenous group’s staunch opposition.

Tewa Women United declared victory on a change.org page where the group had posted a petition that garnered about 2,200 signatures opposing the tritium release, arguing it poses a serious health risk to neighboring pueblos and other communities.

When Sept. 30 passed, those who opposed the release knew it would be postponed until at least the spring because the weather window for venting closed and the fiscal year ended, and with it the three-year authorization for the release, said Kayleigh Warren, Tewa Women United’s environmental justice program coordinator.

Community advocates feared the lab might try to push through the venting as the deadline approached, she said, but that didn’t happen.

Still, her group is aware the battle is likely to continue later, she added.

“It’s not a full victory,” Warren said. “It could still come back around next year.”

Tritium is a radioactive hydrogen isotope and is found, both naturally and human-made, in water, soil and the atmosphere. It is generally harmful only when ingested in high doses in food and water, and it can increase the risk of cancer in some people, according to a Health Physics Society webpage.

However, some medical researchers contend any amount of radiation exposure can risk damaging tissues, cells and DNA, potentially causing genetic mutations, birth defects and cancer.

The tritium in the four drums is a byproduct of nuclear weapons production during the Cold War.

Lab officials say the purpose of the venting is to relieve built-up radioactive hydrogen in the barrels’ headspace to prevent them from rupturing

while they’re being handled. The EPA approved the application for the radioactive release in 2019.

The lab publicized its venting plan in 2020 but shelved it during the coronavirus pandemic due to the lack of necessary staff working on-site. The plan has remained on hold since then.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state Environment Department must approve the venting because the waste contains both radioactive elements and hazardous substances, putting it in both agencies’ purview.

A lab spokesman wrote in an email officials were awaiting regulatory approval and warmer weather to proceed with venting the four containers. He didn’t address whether the lab had planned to release the tritium this year and postponed it.

The method that will be used is a safe and effective way to release the containers’ headspace gas under “carefully controlled conditions,” lab spokesman Steven Horak wrote.

“The method maximizes the protection of workers, the public, and the environment,” he added.

Warren said her group sent the petition objecting to the release to both the EPA and the Environment Department.

The group has had active dialogue with the EPA for at least a year on the issue, and the agency has been receptive to the concerns raised, she said. EPA representatives also have reached out to pueblos, including Santa Clara and Isleta, she said.

Warren said she believes her group has helped establish lines of communication between the EPA and concerned residents, whether they’re Indigenous or non-Native.

“I do think that we have been a significant part in at least bringing forth concerns from community members directly,” Warren said.

Tewa Women United has also provided information to the agency it didn’t consider in the beginning, she said.

EPA spokeswoman Jennah Durant wrote in an email the officials who are familiar with the proposed venting weren’t available Friday. But she confirmed regional leaders have talked to Tewa Women United about the group’s concerns.

Because radionuclides — like those found in tritium — are carcinogenic, the EPA has stated the goal should be zero emissions, though the agency allows some discharge.

The tritium in the four waste drums adds up to roughly 114,000 curies of radiation. A curie is a unit of radioactivity equal to what a gram of radium emits.

The lab’s application states high-efficiency particulate air filters and other equipment would significantly reduce the tritium if it is released, though it couldn’t say by how much.

One watchdog expressed concerns about having such an intense level of radionuclides put into the atmosphere in a short time. Releasing 100,000 curies is more than three times what the Palo Verde nuclear power plant emitted in 2019, said Joni Arends, executive director of Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety.

Arends said the four containers are likely a model for how the lab wants to vent the many barrels of tritium-tainted legacy waste at its site.

“This is just the beginning,” Arends said.