Environment

We work safely, securely, ethically, and in a manner that protects the environment

We understand that the health and viability of the Laboratory depend in part on a record of environmental performance, building confidence of the public and our regulators. To gain the right to do what we do, we must work safely, securely, ethically, and in a manner that protects the environment.

LANL's comprehensive environmental stewardship strategy

The Laboratory has a comprehensive environmental stewardship strategy—clean up the past, control current operations, and move toward a sustainable future in which waste is minimized and other effects on the environment are reduced or eliminated.

Our stewardship activities are robust and we seek transparency to the public

• Our environmental management system is ISO 14001-certified.
• We have an active and award-winning Pollution Prevention program.
• We have significantly reduced both the amount of solid, hazardous waste generated by Lab operations and the number of places that generate this waste.
• We have a robust network of environmental monitoring equipment and take tens of thousands of samples each year of air, ground water, surface water, soil, plants, and wild life.
• All results are made available to the public on Intellus New Mexico, a public database of LANL and New Mexico Environment Department environmental data. The database currently contains more than 8 million records.
• Documents submitted to our environmental regulators are posted on the LANL Electronic Public Reading Room.

Third-party oversight on environmental impacts ensures responsibility to state and nation

Our activities are regulated by the New Mexico Environment Department and the U.S. Environmental Protection agency. Both entities are independent third parties that take an active role in ensuring LANL’s environmental impacts are within state and federal limits.

See the Environment section of this website for more information on

• cleanup of materials from historical Lab operations
• ongoing monitoring of Lab operations
• our efforts to reduce environmental impacts in future