If New Mexico and the Department of Energy do not soon resolve starkly different ideas about the long-term future of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the agencies may try to bridge the gap in a public hearing this summer.
The public hearing, if necessary, would take place in August or September, a spokesperson for the New Mexico Environment Department told Exchange Monitor Monday via email. Whether the hearing is necessary or not, the final hazardous waste permit should be out in early 2024, the spokesperson said. New Mexico’s comment deadline for the permit ended April 19.
So far, the state and DOE disagree on some of the biggest questions surrounding the federal government’s only deep-underground repository for transuranic waste: the sort contaminated by elements heavier than uranium, typically plutonium, and found in great volumes the shuttered nuclear-weapon production sites that produced the U.S. Cold War arsenal.
In a draft permit released in December, New Mexico wanted DOE to set a firm closure date for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) and said the facility could start shutting down within 10 years. DOE has refused to set a specific date but has said it wants WIPP to stay open into the 2080s.
New Mexico also wants DOE to start searching for a new deep underground transuranic disposal site outside of the state. Santa Fe also seeks the authority to unilaterally halt WIPP operations. DOE has resisted both ideas.
If the late-summer hearing happens, expected attendees include: the New Mexico Environment Department; DOE; the agency’s WIPP prime contractor, the Bechtel-led Salado Isolation Mining Contractors; plus advocacy groups and citizens, including some who oppose the permit.
DOE has said it will negotiate with the state to provide more transparency and continue to make shipments from Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico a priority.
WIPP’s underground salt mine started taking defense-related transuranic waste, such as clothing, tools, and equipment used in nuclear weapon production, in 1999. In February 2014, an improperly remediated drum from Los Alamos overheated, ruptured and caused an underground radiation leak that contaminated part of the underground workings. WIPP was offline for about three years following the accident.
In February of this year, Bechtel’s Salado Isolation Mining Contractors took over as WIPP’s prime contractor from an Amentum-BWXT team, Nuclear Waste Partnership.
