ALBUQUERQUE, NM (AP) – The U.S. government plans to build a new transmission line and other upgrades for hundreds of millions of dollars to ensure the laboratory in northern New Mexico has enough power for ongoing operations and future missions, including the manufacture of key components for the nation’s nuclear arsenal.
Officials have said that one of the existing lines serving the Los Alamos National Laboratory is expected to reach capacity this summer.
The other is likely to reach its limits in the next few years when it comes to high-computational projects related to the design and performance of nuclear weapons, and as work progresses on building the plutonium cores that are used to trigger weapons.
The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration announced Monday that it will be working with federal land administrators to assess the project’s potential environmental impact. A virtual public meeting is scheduled for May 6th and the public has until May 21st to weigh the scope of the planned review.
The proposed transmission line would stretch for more than 12 miles, traversing national woodland in an area known as Caja del Rio and spanning the Rio Grande at White Rock Canyon. New structural towers would need to be built on both sides of the canyon.
The project, which could cost up to $ 300 million, would also require new ceiling poles with an average span of 800 feet (244 meters), access roads for construction and maintenance and staging areas where materials can be stored.
Federal officials have announced that the project will try to avoid well-known biological, recreational, cultural, and historical resources such as the Camino Real Aldentro National Historic Trail. Another goal would be to minimize the visibility of the transmission line from residential areas.
Part of the route would be built along an existing utility corridor, but a new path would have to be cut through wooded areas to get to a substation.
The Los Alamos Study Group, a monitoring group that criticized the lab’s expansion plans, reiterated concerns about the lack of an overall analysis of the cumulative effects plutonium core production and more weapons work could have on surrounding communities.
Greg Mello, the group’s director, said the public, local and state governments, or the Indian tribes most directly affected, did not have full information about the future of the laboratory. He pointed out future land purchase and site plans and other documents that were being edited.
“This is a ill-founded project that we firmly oppose,” he said in a statement, adding that the electrical capacity the lab claims it needs is double what it is now and on programs and projects that have not yet been approved based.
Environmentalists, local residents, and others have suggested that the lab use its science skills and consider other options like superconducting transmission lines, battery storage, and solar power.
They point to the project as an opportunity over the next two decades to bring the state close to achieving the mandates of carbon-free power generation over the next two decades.
They also raised concerns about its potential impact on the Caja del Rio, saying it encompasses vast indigenous landscapes and is a scenic gateway to northern New Mexico.
The area has seen an increase in outdoor recreational use and serves as a migration corridor for wildlife.
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