Congress has approved an additional $19 million for nuclear waste cleanup at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
The New Mexico congressional delegation on Wednesday announced the approval of a "reprogramming" request by the Department of Energy to transfer money from other programs to ensure the lab can meet its promise to remove thousands of barrels of radioactive waste by 2014.
The potential dangers of the waste, which is stored above ground, made national headlines in 2011 when the Las Conchas fire raged near the lab.
The Obama Administration had requested $239 million for the cleanup in the fiscal year 2013 budget. But a continuing budget resolution froze the cleanup funding level at $189 million and sequestration cuts further reduced that figure to $173 million.