WIPP Update: Ground Control Review Underway Following Rock Fall
Courtesy/WIPP
WIPP News:
Salt rock debris was discovered by ground control crews Tuesday, Sept. 27 during routine monitoring and inspections of the Panel 4 entrance within the WIPP underground.
Panel 4, one of the most southern portions of WIPP, was closed in 2010 and consists of seven disposal rooms filled with transuranic (TRU) waste. No WIPP personnel were present at the time of the salt rock fall, as the area had already been under restricted access – requiring management approval to access – since March 2016.
Recently, access was more strictly prohibited – no personnel entry allowed – since Read More
Valles Caldera National Preserve Burns Planned
Firefighter ignites prescribed burn at VCNP with a driptorch. Courtesy/NPS
VCNP News:
JEMEZ SPRINGS – Valles Caldera National Preserve is planning to implement prescribed burn projects from early October through the end of November, based on suitable weather and fuel conditions.
The prescribed burn will take place within an approximately 1,800-acre project area in the Banco Bonito district of the preserve – north of N.M. 4 near mile marker 30. The burn operations will be completed in phases over a total of 8-10 days and are not expected to cause road closures or disrupt visitor activities Read More
Celebrate World Archaeology Day Oct. 15
Pots and bowl found at 17th-century archaeology sites in Northern New Mexico from Museum of Indian Arts and Culture collections. Photo by Blair Clark, New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs.SFNF Field Trip In Los Alamos Area Oct. 15
SFNF News:Takeaways From Regional Development Summit
Department Secretary Celina Bussey of the New M exico Department of Workforce Solutions and Alan Webber, owner of One New Mexico, were the keynote speakers for the Sept. 28 Regional Economic Development Initiative’s 2016 summit. By Roger Snodgrass/ladailypost.com
Regina Wheeler, center, of Positive Energy Solar and Steve Buelow, ditector of the New Mexico Consortium participate in a panel on green energy during the Summit. Photo by Roger Snodgrass/ladailypost.com
Secretary Celina Bussey of the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions Read More
Valles Caldera Geology Field Trip With Fraser And Cathy Goff Oct. 9
Geologist Fraser Goff, who wrote the book on Valles’ geology, is leading a trip Oct. 9 to the Valles Caldera with his wife Cathy Goff. Courtesy photoConstruction Of World’s Most Sensitive Dark Matter Detector Moves Forward
Tomasz Biesiadzinski, left, and Jeremy Mock install a mini version of the future LZ dark matter detector at a test stand at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. The white container is a prototype of the detector’s core, also known as a time projection chamber (TPC). For the dark matter hunt, LZ’s TPC will be filled with liquid xenon. Courtesy/ SLAC National Accelerator LaboratoryLBNL News:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory reports that the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ), a next-generation dark matter detector that will be at least 100 times more sensitive than its predecessor, has cleared another Read More
New Mexico Delegation Supports Navajo Nation’s Request For Disaster Declaration
NM CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION News:PEEC Provides Fishing Adventure At Fenton Oct. 8
Casey Harthorn teaching the next generation how to fish. Courtesy photoHow B Reactor Worked And Its Mysterious Failure
Physicist Enrico Fermi. Courtesy/AHC
ATOMIC HERITAGE FOUNDATION News:
On Sept. 26, 1944, the B Reactor, the world’s first full-scale plutonium reactor, started up at Hanford. The next day, it mysteriously shut down. “The reactor went dead, just plain dead! Everybody stood around and stared,” physicist Leona Woods Marshall recalled.
After working all night, scientists led by Enrico Fermi calculated that the problem was being caused by Xenon, an element produced during the nuclear reaction. Physicist John Wheeler had warned that Xenon and similar elements, which absorb Read More
Nature Center Talk: The Language Of Bears Oct. 4
Wildlife biologist Daryl Ratajczak feeding a bear cub 20 years ago. Ratajczak will give a free talk Tuesday at the Los Alamos Nature Center. Courtesy photoLetter To The Editor: Turtle Trouble At Ashley Pond
The red-eared slider is included in the list of the world’s 100 most invasive species. Courtesy photo
By LYNN HANRAHAN
Los Alamos
Anyone who reads the Los Alamos Daily Post sees the cute picture of the Ashley Pond turtle basking in the sun on a log now and then. Yesterday my daughters noticed several more turtles swimming around our town pond. I can only assume these poor turtles are cast off pets who outgrew their owners capacity to care for them.
They are red eared sliders — an invasive species in much of North America. People buy them at pet stores when they are little and cute but Read More
‘Dia del Rio’ Community Project To Clean Up White Rock Canyon
Join the Pajarito Environmental Education Center, Los Alamos County, Los Alamos Fire Department and Los Alamos Mountaineers for a community clean-up day Oct. 15 at White Rock Canyon. Photo by Josip Loncaric
PEEC News:
Calling all volunteers! Pajarito Environmental Education Center, Los Alamos County, Los Alamos Fire Department and Los Alamos Mountaineers are looking for help to celebrate the Rio Grande and beautify an area that has been ignored for quite some time. Volunteers will remove trash and cover over graffiti 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15 in White Rock Canyon. Read More
DOE Awards $1.5 Million Grant To UML
DOE News:Tales Of Our Times: Population Is A Knotted Ball
Tales of Our TimesBy JOHN BARTLIT
New Mexico Citizens
for Clean Air & Water
Population is a Knotted Ball
Every part of the environment has a string tied to it. At the far end, the strings tangle into a giant knotted ball, which is world population. Population affects virtually everything, from the environment, religions and wars to commodity prices, the tides of employment and money supplies. Yet, the subject stays quiet as a mouse.
We know the reason—the central knot is too tight to pick apart. But we can poke at it, which is worth more than a quiet mouse. To begin, human populations have strings
Sierra Club Chair On PNM Rate Case Decision
Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter Chair David Coss
SIERRA CLUB News:
The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission decided Wednesday on PNM’s request for an increase to electric rates. Below is the statement on the decision from Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter Chair David Coss:
Today’s decision held good news and bad news for ratepayers and a healthy climate.
While PNM got its way on making consumers pay for its poor decision to reinvest in coal, the commission prevented PNM from punishing ratepayers with significantly higher service fees, and we customers won’t have to foot the bill for the Read More
PEEC Amateur Naturalist: Cañada Bonita – Autumn Comes To The High Country
Aspen leaves are close at hand and glow in the sun along the trail less traveled. Photo by Bob Dryja
Destructive Khapra Beetles Discovered In Household Goods Shipment From Saudi Arabia To Philadelphia
The Khapra beetle (Trogoderma granarium), photographed by the US Department of Agriculture, originated in South Asia and is one of the world’s most destructive pests of grain products and seeds. It is considered one of the 100 worst invasive species in the world. Infestations are difficult to control because of the insect’s ability to survive without food for long periods, its preference for dry conditions and low-moisture food, and its resistance to many insecticides. There is a federal quarantine restricting the importation of rice into the U.S,. from countries with known infestationsEM Releases Supporting Materials From 2016 National Cleanup Workshop
EM-LA Field Office Manager Douglas E. Hintze presents at the 2016 National Cleanup Workshop Sept. 14-15 in Alexandria, Va. Courtesy/DOE
EM News:
Gallinas Watershed Prescribed Burn Planned
SFNF News:
