“It was 18 inches in 24 hours,” said Kassidy Burnett Boorman, program manager at Los Alamos National Laboratory, during the recent Environmental Leader & Energy Manager Conference in Denver. Photos showed black floodwaters since it occurred relatively soon after the last megafire.

Los Alamos National Laboratory covers 36 square miles and employs around 10,000 to 12,000 people. The lab is also responsible to the surrounding communities. Burnett Boorman cited a National Climate Assessment predicting more droughts, wildfires, insect outbreaks, reduced surface water, and extreme storms. “Our site has already been ground zero for what I call extreme natural events,” she said.

In December 2016, LANL initiated a resource vulnerability risk assessment after a screening in July of that year. For political reasons, the focus was on electricity and water, Burnett Boorman said.

“The end goal of the resource vulnerability risk assessment is to provide adequate information to decision makers, and to suggest solutions with a good ROI,” she said.

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