Though the Department of Energy analyzed additional Waste Isolation Pilot Plant sites for potential long-term storage of elemental mercury, it did not indicate in a recently released supplemental environmental impact statement whether WIPP would be the final choice for storage, or if the Department would stick with its first choice of Waste Control Specialists. In a January 2011 EIS, DOE said that WCS’ Andrews, Texas disposal facility was its preferred option for storing mercury long-term. That may still be the Department’s ultimate preference, but “Based on analysis from this draft SEIS and public comment, the Preferred Alternative may or may not change in the final SEIS,” DOE wrote in the March SEIS. DOE will make a decision in the final ROD, to be issued “no sooner than 30 days after publication of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Notice of Availability for the Final Mercury Storage SEIS in the Federal Register,” DOE wrote.
The Mercury Export Ban Act of 2008 prohibited the federal government from selling mercury within the U.S., and the ban on exporting mercury kicked in Jan. 1 of this year. The Act requires DOE to designate a facility to manage and store elemental mercury for the long-term. There are approximately 1,300 tons of DOE mercury currently stored in 35,000 of the 3-L flasks at Y–12. DOE analyzed potential storage sites for storage containments able to house 10,000 tons. The three potential sites at WIPP that DOE analyzed— Section 10, Section 20, and Section 35—would all involve construction of new buildings. DOE would build a new facility at WCS, but there is also an existing building located within that site presently configured to store hazardous waste and, “with minor modifications,” could provide storage of up 2,200 tons of elemental mercury.
