New Mexico

Covered Facilities

(SEC) = The Special Exposure Cohort. This is a defined category of employees established under EEOICPA. The SEC is comprised of classes of employees who have at least one of the 22 SEC cancers and have worked for a specific period of time at one of the SEC facilities. Claims compensated under the SEC do not have to go through the dose reconstruction process, as is required for other cancer claims covered by EEOICPA.

• 1: Accurate Machine & Tool, Albuquerque

  Accurate Machine & Tool provides machine shop services to Sandia National Laboratory and these services have included the use of beryllium-copper materials.

• 2: Albuquerque Operations Office

  The Albuquerque Operations Office serves as the primary field organization for the Department of Energy's major defense program. Its primary goal is overseeing and maintaining the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile.

• 3: Hangar 481, Albuquerque

  The Department of Energy contracted with Ross Aviation, Inc. to operate Hangar 481 located on the Kirtland Air Force Base due to the proximity of Sandia National Laboratory.

• 4: Kirtland Operations Office, Albuquerque

  The Kirtland Operations Office was founded in 1964 as part of the United States atmospheric nuclear testing readiness program. Today, this facility supports the National Nuclear Security Administration.

• 5: Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute, Albuquerque

  The Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute (LRRI) is located on Kirtland Air Force Base. It was established in 1960 to research the health consequences of inhaling airborne radioactive materials. The Institute was privatized on June 20, 2013. Throughout operations, the potential for beryllium exposure existed at this site due to beryllium use, residual contamination, and decontamination activities.

• 6: Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque (SEC)

  Established in 1949, Sandia National Laboratories designed non-nuclear components for nuclear weapons. Since 1953, areas have been used to test nuclear and non-nuclear weapons components and from 1946-1957, the facility also housed a weapons assembly line. From 1963-1971, Sandia had an onsite liquid waste disposal system for radioactive discharges from the Sandia Experimental Reactor Facility. Throughout operations, the potential for beryllium exposure existed at this site, due to beryllium use, residual contamination, and decontamination activities.

• 7: South Albuquerque Works

  The South Albuquerque Works facility was owned by the Atomic Energy Commission from 1951-1967 and used it to produce weapons components.

• 8: Chupadera Mesa

  Chupadera Mesa is located in the White Sands Missile Range and was part of the fallout area from the Trinity test.

• 9: Los Alamos Medical Center

  Los Alamos Medical Center started as an Army hospital for Manhattan Project workers. A new facility was constructed in 1951 and opened in January 1952. The Atomic Energy Commission sold the hospital to a private entity in 1963.

• 10: Los Alamos National Laboratory (SEC)

  Operated by the University of California, the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) developed and tested the world’s first nuclear weapons. After World War II, this site continued as a nuclear weapons research and development facility. LANL also used its research facilities for other areas of weapons production, particularly plutonium processing and fabrication of weapon components. Throughout operations, the potential for beryllium exposure existed at this site, due to beryllium use, residual contamination, and decontamination activities.

• 11: Ore Buying Station, Grants

  The ore buying station at Grants purchased uranium ore for the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). Lucius Pitkin managed and operated the Grants station on behalf of the AEC from July 1956 to mid-1958.

• 12: Ore Buying Station, Shiprock

  The ore buying station at Shiprock purchased uranium ore for the Atomic Energy Commission. American Smelting and Refining Company managed and operated the Shiprock station from July 1952 to January 1954.

• 13: Project Gasbuggy, Farmington

  The Project Gasbuggy site is where the Atomic Energy Commission conducted a nuclear test as part of the Plowshare program that was initiated in 1957 to develop peaceful applications for nuclear explosives. On December 10, 1967, a 29 kiloton nuclear yield device was detonated in an underground shaft in natural gas and shale deposits to determine if nuclear explosives would release natural gas not recoverable by conventional methods. The operation ended in 1973 and the site was on standby until cleanup began in August 1978. A second shot was canceled because the Gasbuggy shot vented to the atmosphere.

• 14: Project Gnome, Carlsbad

  The Project Gnome Test site is where the Atomic Energy Commission conducted a nuclear test as part of the Plowshare program that was initiated in 1957 to develop peaceful applications for nuclear explosives. In December 10, 1961, Shot Gnome, a 3 kiloton yield nuclear device was detonated in an underground shaft to identify the effects and products of a nuclear explosion in a salt medium but the shot vented some radioactivity into the atmosphere.

• 15: Trinity Nuclear Explosion Site, White Sands Missile Range

  The Trinity test in July 1945 at the Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range was the world's first ever nuclear explosion which released 18.6 kilotons of power, instantly vaporizing the tower and turning the surrounding asphalt and sand into glass. Seconds after the explosion, an enormous blast sent searing heat across the desert and knocked observers to the ground. The success of the Trinity test meant that an atomic bomb using plutonium could be readied for use by the U.S. military.

• 16: Uranium Mill, Shiprock

  This mill processed about 1.5 million short tons of uranium ore and is covered under RECA and not separately covered under EEOICPA. However, environmental remediation was performed by DOE contractors from October 1984 through November 1986 and those contractors are covered under EEOICPA.

• 17: Uranium Mill, Ambrosia Lake

  This mill processed vanadium and uranium from 1957 through 1961 and is covered under RECA and not separately covered under EEOICPA. However, environmental remediation was performed by DOE contractors from July 1987 to April 1989 and again from October 1992 to July 1995 and those contractors are covered under EEOICPA.

• 18. Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, Carlsbad

  The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) was designed for the disposal of radioactive waste resulting from the research and production of nuclear weapons. It is the world’s first underground repository licensed to safely and permanently dispose of radioactive waste. WIPP began operations on March 26, 1999.