July 2011
Los Alamos Historical Document Retrieval and Assessment (LAHDRA)
Our Challenge
- From 1999 to 2010, ChemRisk lead a team of scientist and engineers that reviewed approximately eight million classified and unclassified documents at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) that describe historical off-site releases of radionuclides and chemicals to determine whether an environmental dose reconstruction for this site was warranted and/or feasible.
Our Approach
- The LAHDRA team used LANL archives and records to review and catalog thousands of documents, microfiche, and interviews.
- A relative ranking system for historical airborne and waterborne radionuclide and chemical releases from LANL were established using calculated priority index (PI) values
- PI values for radionuclides were established using annual release estimates and the maximum allowable effluent concentrations according to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
- PI values for chemicals were established using annual usage estimates and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency toxicity values.
Our Findings
- Documents reviewed by the LAHDRA team indicate that airborne plutonium releases from LANL before the 1970s were significantly higher than what has been historically reported.
- Significant quantities of beryllium were used and processed near residential areas before health dangers were understood.
- Local residents around the Trinity Test, the worlds first detonation of an atomic weapon, were not warned of potential exposure to radioactive fallout and no residents were evacuated.
- More information at LAHDRA.org.