Summary of environmental surveillance at Los Alamos during 1995

Abstract

Linking the Rio Grande Valley and the Jemez Mountains, New Mexico`s Pajarito Plateau is home to a world-class scientific institution. Los Alamos National Laboratory (or the Laboratory), managed by the Regents of the University of California, is a government-owned, Department of Energy-supervised complex investigating all areas of modern science for the purposes of national defense, health, conservation, and ecology. The Laboratory was founded in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project, whose members assembled to create the first nuclear weapon. Occupying the campus of the Los Alamos Ranch School, American and British scientists gathered on the isolated mesa tops to harness recently discovered nuclear power with the hope of ending World War II. In July 1945, the initial objective of the Laboratory, a nuclear device, was achieved in Los Alamos and tested in White Sands, New Mexico. Today the Laboratory continues its role in defense, particularly in nuclear weapons, including developing methods for safely handling weapons and managing waste. For the past twenty years, the Laboratory has published an annual environmental report. This pamphlet offers a synopsis that briefly explains important concepts, such as radiation and provides a summary of the monitoring results and regulatory compliance status that are explained at length in the document entitled Environmental Surveillance at Los Alamos during 1995.