A federal judge in New Mexico has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the environmental group Nuclear Watch New Mexico against the U.S. Department of Energy and its Los Alamos nuclear weapons laboratory.
U.S. District Court judge Judith C. Herrera granted summary judgment to Los Alamos National Security, LLC, a firm created in 2006 for the sole purpose of managing and operating the Laboratory and disposing of the hazardous waste from its operations.
Nuclear Watch New Mexico contended the laboratory and the National Security firm were not complying with a 2005 federal court order to clean up the waste sites that dot the area about Los Alamos. But Judge Herrera granted the National Security firm summary judgment because as of 2018, it was no longer responsible for the disposal of the waste. Instead, the firm’s waste remediation contract was given to another firm and the operations of the National Security company are winding down.