In Fall 2002 and Spring 2003, The RadioActivist Campaign (TRAC) joined a research team, collaborating with Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety (CCNS), to study the LANL bank of the Rio Grande. TRAC checked whether any radioactivity from LANL is already leaking into the Rio Grande at detectable levels.

TRAC focused on sampling Spring 4A, which flows into Pajarito Stream and then into the Rio Grande. Spring 4A is relatively close to LANL facilities and has an unusually large flow. Low activities of a natural, short-lived radioactive tracer, beryllium-7, showed that the waters in Spring 4A and Pajarito Stream are almost undiluted groundwater.

Samples from both Spring 4A and Pajarito Stream contained consistently low levels of cesium-137 of LANL origin. This is the first confirmed detection of LANL radioactivity entering the Rio Grande from a groundwater pathway.

This is an early warning for the public to take an active role in LANL oversight to protect and restore the Rio Grande.

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