Nuclear Material Removed from LANL's TA-18
The materials have been shipped to the Nevada Test Site, the Y-12 National Security Complex at Oak Ridge in Tennessee and TA-55 at LANL. The materials stored at both the Nevada Test Site and the Y-12 National Security Complex will remain at those sites. However, the materials moved to TA-55 will eventually be transported to the Nevada Test Site for permanent storage.
TA-18 is located in a canyon flood plain near the Rio Grande, only 3 miles from the community of White Rock. It houses facilities for criticality experiments and stored the nuclear materials used in those experiments. Criticality experiments use weapons grade plutonium and highly enriched uranium to create self-sustaining nuclear reactions. These experiments support weapons construction by determining how much nuclear material is necessary to trigger a nuclear detonation. As a result of these experiments, TA-18 routinely releases high amounts of radiation, including neutrons, into the air.
There was much concern over the safety of TA-18 both in terms of the security threat posed by storing large amounts of weapons grade materials and the threat to the environment. In the late 1990s, TA-18 failed mock terrorist attacks that could have released enough nuclear materials to produce a crude weapon. As a result, then DOE Secretary, Governor Bill Richardson requested that TA-18 be closed and the materials there moved to the Nevada Test Site. However, the site continues to operate.
In May 2004, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board named TA-18 as the location at LANL that posed the greatest threat to the surrounding communities should an operational error occur there. The board also found that an accident during the criticality experiments conducted at TA-18 would be the second most severe accident possible at LANL.
A New Mexico coalition of non-governmental organizations led a campaign to move the materials from TA-18 because of these security and public health concerns. The coalition included Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety (CCNS), Creative Commotion, Nuclear Watch New Mexico and Peace Action New Mexico. As a part of the campaign, the coalition collected over 800 postcards signed by concerned members of the communities surrounding LANL. The coalition also worked with the Santa Fe City Council to pass a resolution against the experiments being conducted at TA-18.
The Safety Board recently reported that LANL will continue to conduct some experiments at TA-18. The Board noted its concerns as to LANL's ability to successfully conduct these operations at TA-18, without proper planning. In the future, DOE intends to move these experiments to the proposed Critical Experiments Facility (CEF) at the Nevada Test Site.
Activists are pleased that the materials have been moved from TA-18 and relocated safely. Joni Arends, of CCNS, said, "We thank Governor Richardson and the Santa Fe City Council for their leadership towards protecting the health and environment of Northern New Mexico. However, we believe the experiments should be stopped."
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