LANL contractor earns DOE bonus for environmental management

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Los Alamos National Security has received a $9.1 million bonus for reaching environmental goals in its operation of Los Alamos National Laboratory. The New Mexican reports (http://bit.ly/2igBvkk ) that the U.S. Energy Department says the contractor excelled in a number of projects to remediate areas of environmental concern during the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. The company earned 90 percent of the maximum $10.1 million award. Decades of improper waste disposal have caused toxic and radiological contamination at the lab and are expected to cost nearly $4 billion to clean up over the next 25 years. The Department of Energy says in a report that the lab has made progress addressing an underground chemical plume that is creeping toward a major aquifer and in cleanup at Technical Area 21.