Newly Released Tritium Review Analyzes LANL Tritium Reports, Highlights Infant Doses

A newly released independent review of Los Alamos National Laboratory’s 2025 tritium venting raises serious concerns about radiation risks to children and infants and highlights major gaps in LANL’s public reporting and decision-making process.

The review also questions LANL’s decision to proceed with venting despite no measurable pressure buildup in the waste containers — meaning the explosion risk used to justify the releases may not have existed. https://www.ccwnewmexico.org/tritium

On May 14^th, 2026, the Communities for Clean Water published the review analyzing two reports LANL released following its controversial September 2025 tritium release operations. https://www.ccwnewmexico.org and https://static1.squarespace.com/static/6418a35a30fed803c21f2bb1/t/6a0604cc6c803b7fd1032476/1778779340789/Review+of+Vol+1+and+2+of+LANL+tritium+venting+reports+by+Arjun+Makhijani+for+CCW+2026-05-14.pdf

Authored by Dr. Arjun Makhijani, President of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (https://ieer.org/), the “Review of Los Alamos National Laboratory’s tritium venting reports – Volume 1 and Volume 2” provides a summary of the tritium venting as well as the data and estimates detailed in the two LANL reports.

1. 1. FTWC Radioactive Air Emissions Summary, Volume 1: Stack Emissions & Off-Site Dose Consequence, LA-UR: 25-31093, November 14, 2025; and
   2. FTWC Radioactive Air Emissions Summary, Volume 2: Environmental Sampling & Expanded Plume Modeling, LA-UR: 26-20967, February 17, 2026.

Notably, LANL formally acknowledged for the first time that estimated radiation doses to infants were more than three times higher than doses to adults — a change that came only after sustained public pressure and community participation in public meetings and hearings. Nevertheless, infant doses were not considered during the planning and modeling that took place prior to the tritium releases.  LANL stated that infant doses would not be taken into account moving forward.

Dr. Makhijani responded by saying, “Had infant doses been considered during permitting, the operation would not have been allowed as planned, since infant doses under LANL’s appropriately conservative source term assumption would have been more than the regulatory limit of 10 [millirem]. This raises the question of whether EPA’s “standard practice” of enforcement for adults only is providing equal protection under the law to infants and children when infant doses are estimated to exceed the regulatory limit of 10 [millirem] but adult doses do not. The fact that the actual venting resulted in doses well below 10 [millirem] for infants is not relevant to the question of whether the permit was properly granted.”

The findings raise broader concerns about how federal agencies assess radiation risks to nearby communities, particularly for infants, children, pregnant women, and Indigenous communities living near nuclear facilities.

Kalyn Finnell, Coordinator for the Communities for Clean Water, stated, “Community members pushed for transparency every step of the way, and that pressure forced important admissions that were absent from LANL’s original planning. But serious questions remain about whether children and families are being adequately protected.”

1. Friday, May 22^nd from noon to 1 pm – Join the nuclear disarmament community at the intersection of East Alameda and Sandoval in Santa Fe for the weekly peaceful protest in support of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Join with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, New Mexico Peace Fest, Pax Christi and others. Bring your flags, signs and banners.

2. Friday, May 22^nd through Monday, May 25^th at 3 pm and 7:30 pm – showing of Amy Goodman’s film Steal This Story, Please, at The Guild in Albuquerque. BONUS * BUT SOLD OUT – at The Guild! Amy Goodman in person at the Sunday, May 24

The film will also be shown at the CCA from Friday, May 22^nd through Tuesday, June 2^nd.  For more information and show times:  https://ccasantafe.org/ and https://ticketing.uswest.veezi.com/sessions/dwadj82g7zwrbd9zzytyah11j0

3. Wednesday, June 3^rd from 5 to 7 pm MDT at 10 Cities of Gold Road #A, Tribal Room, at the Cities of Gold Hotel in Pojoaque – hybrid MS Teams interactive public forum at which N3B and LANL discuss Wildfire Preparedness and Mitigation with Q&A. In-person participants are invited to interact with N3B and LANL subject matter experts. For meeting information, including login details, visit: https://n3b-la.com/public-meeting/emcf-6-3-2026/.

4. Thursday, June 4^th at 6 pm MDT – FREE online showing of Daniel Ellsberg on the Nuclear Threat at the premiere of An Ordinary Insanity – a 28-minute film by Oscar-nominated director Judith Ehrlich, filmed one year before Ellsberg’s death at age 92. To register:  https://www.anordinaryinsanity.com/   The free premiere will include a panel featuring director Judith Ehrlich, Ellsberg family members, and nuclear weapons experts and activists, followed by a Q&A. After the premiere, the film will be available to view FREE online and to use for screenings and events to help build greater awareness of the threat we face and to encourage action.

5. Saturday, June 6^th at 1:30 pm MDT – Santa Fe Archbishop John Wester, Partnership for a World Without Nuclear Weapons, will present on his 2022 pastoral letter,Living in the Light of Christ’s Peace: A Conversation Toward Nuclear Disarmament to a virtual summit dialogue to activate Catholics to work for the global abolition of nuclear weapons. For more information about the Pax Christi New England Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (PCAN) and to register, go to https://paxchristima.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/PCAN-Summits-Flyer-PDF.pdf

6. Monday, June 8^th at 9 am at the NM State Capitol Building – Water Quality Control Commission Public Rulemaking Hearing for the Proposed Surface Water Quality State Permitting Program (WQCC 25-74(R)). For more information: https://www.env.nm.gov/events-calendar/?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D199647881

7. Sunday, June 13^th from 10 am to 11 am – Albuquerque Inaugural Women Veterans Celebration at New Mexico Veterans Memorial Park, 1100 Louisiana SE. Albuquerque Concert Band will begin music at 9:45 am. For more information, please call 505 768-4495.

Tags: 10 millirem, 10 mrem, CCW, Communities for Clean Water, decision-making process, Dr. Arjun Makhijani, explosion risk, IEER, Indigenous communities, Kalyn Finnell, LANL, Los Alamos National Laboratory, pregnant women, President of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, public reporting, radiation risks to children and infants, tritium venting, “Review of Los Alamos National Laboratory’s tritium venting reports – Volume 1 (November 2025) and Volume 2 (February 2026), ” radiation doses to infants more than three times higher than doses to adults