Environment

Regional Coalition Of LANL Communities Discusses Consent Order Negotiations With NMED And EM-LA

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RCLC News:

HERNANDEZ — The Regional Coalition of LANL Communities (RCLC) hosted representatives from the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) and the Los Alamos Environmental Management Field Office (EM-LA) to discuss the Consent Order agreement guiding the regulatory environment for cleanup of legacy nuclear waste at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL).

NMED Secretary Ryan Flynn gave an overview of the current consent order and expected changes to the upcoming version to be signed, and EM-LA Manager Doug Hintze presented the new campaign approach that will be utilized Read More

WIPP Conducts Limited Scope Performance Tests

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Members of the WIPP Emergency Operations Center participate in a drill, simulating an emergency occurrence at the WIPP Facility. Courtesy/WIPP
 
WIPP News:
 
The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Emergency Operations Center staff conducted a series of Limited Scope Performance Tests (LSPT) Nov. 3‐4, designed to evaluate the readiness of the Emergency Response Organization (ERO) and the Emergency Operations Center.
 
A series of four exercises were conducted (i.e. earthquake, radiological release, etc.) to thoroughly
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Electric Vehicle Cross-Country Driver Visits Los Alamos Nature Center

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Brian Kent and his electric car this morning during a visit to the Los Alamos Nature Center. Photo by Chris Clark/ladailypost.com

 

By Rebecca Shankland
Los Alamos
 
Brian Kent, tired of hearing people say that they couldn’t take road trips in their Leaf all-electric vehicles, decided to drive his Leaf cross country, visiting every state capital, and even planting trees in every state to offset the small amount of carbon required to generate electricity for the vehicle.
 
Wednesday Kent checked his charging station possibilities and found one at the Los Alamos Nature
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Bandelier Pile Burning Along N.M. 4 Wednesday

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Pile burning at Bandelier. Courtesy/nps.gov

BANDELIER News:

With the arrival of snow providing good conditions, the fire crew at Bandelier National Monument is planning to burn about 30 piles of fuel materials Wednesday, Nov. 18. 

The piles are along N.M. 4 between Ponderosa Group Campground and the Bandelier entrance, totaling about 5 acres. Visitors may see smoke at a number of locations just off the highway, including one near the entrance station. There should be little impact on Juniper Campground, and none in the Visitor Center area. The operation is expected to only take one day. Read More

New Climate Model Predicts Likelihood Of Greenland Ice Melt, Sea Level Rise, And Dangerous Temperatures

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Greenland ice loss. Photo by Matthew Hoffman/LANL

LANL News:

A new computer model of accumulated carbon emissions predicts the likelihood of crossing several dangerous climate change thresholds.

These include global temperature rise sufficient to lose the Greenland Ice Sheet and generate seven meters of long-term sea level rise, or tropical region warming to a level that is deadly to humans and other mammals.

“The model is based on idealized representations of societal, technological and policy factors,” said lead researcher Jeremy Fyke, of the Los Alamos National Laboratory Read More

Roger This: Science And Politics Mix It Up

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Courtesy/NOAA

Roger This: Science And Politics Mix It Up

By ROGER SNODGRASS
Los Alamos Daily Post

A new “hockey stick” argument erupted this summer on Capitol Hill, as Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Tex.), chairman of the House Science Committee faced off with officials of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for the last several months over a climate study published in Science magazine in June 2015.

The new study, “Possible artifacts of data biases in the recent global surface warming hiatus,”offered a revised version of historical land and sea temperatures that used new data Read More

Wash, Dry And Repeat … Billion Dollar Cleanup Settlement Starts Over

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New Mexico Environment Department Cabinet Secretary Ryan Flynn asks for input on a revised consent order from members of the Northern New Mexico Citizens Advisory Board Thursday at the Cities of Gold Conference Center in Pojoaque. Photo by Roger Snodgrass/ladailypost.com

During a break at the NNMCAB meeting Thursday, from left, NNSA Environmental Programs Office Assistant Manager George Rael, talks to EM Los Alamos Field Office Manager Doug Hintze and contractor Bob Zulick. Photo by Roger Snodgrass/ladailypost.com

 

By ROGER SNODGRASS
Los Alamos Daily Post

POJOAQUE Read More

NASA’s Swift Spots Its Thousandth Gamma-ray Burst

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GRB 151027B, Swift’s 1,000th burst, center, is shown in this composite X-ray, ultraviolet and optical image. X-rays were captured by Swift’s X-Ray Telescope, which began observing the field 3.4 minutes after the Burst Alert Telescope detected the blast. Swift’s Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) began observations seven seconds later and faintly detected the burst in visible light. The image includes X-rays with energies from 300 to 6,000 electron volts, primarily from the burst, and lower-energy light seen through the UVOT’s visible, blue and ultraviolet Read More

El Valle Astronomers Host Dixon Star Party Saturday

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Capella, left center, and the Pleiades, right, bathed in the Northern Lights. Imaged Oct. 11, 2015 with a Canon EOS Rebel T2i DSLR in Karasjok, Norway. Courtesy/NOP
 
By DAVID GRIGGS, Secretary
El Valle Astronomers

El Valle Astronomers will host a Star Party Saturday, Nov. 14. Meet in front of the Dixon Coop Market 4:55 p.m., and President Lee Mesibov will lead the procession up the hill to the Dixon Ballfield.

In the evening twilight, we will be observing details on the waxing crescent Moon. As twilight fades away, you can make out the last stars of summery Sagittarius to its left. Uranus (magnitude

Read More

Scenes From Today’s Signing Ceremony Establishing Manhattan Project National Historical Park

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From left, Los Alamos County Council Chair Kristin Henderson, former Councilor Fran Berting, Los Alamos Historical Society Executive Director Heather McClenahan, Dr. Ben Neal, second from right, and at far right, Bandelier Superintendent Jason Lott join U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, and seated, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz at this morning’s signing ceremony, in Washington, D.C., to officially establish the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. Courtesy/NPS

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell Read More