Building 257 is a former radioactive liquid waste processing facility that will be torn down as part of a new cleanup subcontract awarded to Los Alamos Technical Associates by N3B. Photo Courtesy N3B

N3B NEWS

N3B has awarded Los Alamos Technical Associates (LATA) of Albuquerque a subcontract to clean up portions of Technical Area 21 at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Work is expected to begin in the summer and will take about two years to complete.

TA-21 is a former Manhattan Project and Cold War-era complex of buildings that housed plutonium processing facilities and was where groundbreaking tritium research for energy, environment and weapons defense took place.

Most of the facilities were demolished in 2011. LATA will decontaminate and demolish the remaining former radioactive liquid waste processing facility, Building 257, and remove underground waste transfer lines.

Once the building, above-ground tanks, waste lines and other surface debris are removed, the underlying soil will be sampled for contamination and remediated, if necessary.

All waste material will be shipped offsite to a licensed disposal facility.

For the next phase of work, N3B expects to issue a request for proposals in April to remove the slabs and basements of formerly demolished buildings, then sample and remediate underlying soil, as necessary. N3B expects to award the work later this summer.

Newport News Nuclear BWXT Los Alamos (N3B) is a limited liability company comprising HII Technical Services Division, a subsidiary of Huntington Ingalls Industries, and BWX Technologies. N3B manages the $1.38 billion, 10-year Los Alamos Legacy Cleanup Contract at the Los Alamos National Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, Los Alamos Field Office.