State Revises WIPP Permit To Allow So-called 'Hot Waste'
Associated Press
CARLSBAD — The New Mexico Environment Department issued a revised permit Monday, allowing higher levels of nuclear waste to be stored in underground repositories at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.
The permit enables WIPP to receive and dispose of remote-handled transuranic radioactive waste, currently stored at U.S. Department of Energy sites nationwide. The first shipments of the new waste could begin after regulatory approvals in coming months.
"WIPP is a key element of the safe cleanup of this nation's defense waste, and the significance of this permit, which enables the department to continue its cleanup momentum, cannot be understated,'' Assistant Energy Secretary James Rispoli said.
Gov. Bill Richardson and state Environment Secretary Ron Curry were among the dignitaries attending the signing ceremony.
Since WIPP opened in 1999, the plant has stored more than 83,000 drums of radioactive waste in salt beds 2,150 feet under the New Mexico desert. But that waste was low-level — things like clothes and tools used by workers at radioactive sites.
The new waste — so-called "hot waste'' — must be handled by machines using robotic arms. It has always been part of WIPP's management plan, after the plant had demonstrated it can handle the lesser stuff safely.
"WIPP is one of the few success stories in that it's operating and they're putting waste in,'' said Bob Neill, a former manager of a state WIPP oversight group.
After hearings in Carlsbad and Santa Fe, a state hearing officer concluded last month that WIPP had earned the right — through its unblemished safety record of no spills or leaks — to take the next step.
"This means New Mexico, technologically when it comes to waste, is one of the leaders around the world,'' Richardson said.
However, a government watchdog group, Citizens for Alternatives to Radioactive Dumping, issued a news release criticizing the permit.
The group said an impact study should have been conducted "to determine if the current health of the communities surrounding the WIPP site and along the WIPP routes can bear yet more environmental stress.''
According to a DOE news release, the revised permit allows alternate methods for analyzing waste before shipment, increases container storage areas above ground and adds more efficient methods for monitoring volatile organic compounds inside the repository.
It also institutes a new dispute resolution process and an e-mail notification system "to inform the public of various permit-related activities.''
Richardson said the permit was crafted after "thorough, careful review and analysis.'' He said the process involved discussions with residents, citizens groups and DOE and state Environment Department scientists.
"This is the best possible permit,'' he said. "It both allows for the safe disposal of remote handled transuranic waste and — at the request of the environmental community — creates vastly better public access to information about the waste that is accepted at WIPP.''
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