The Environmental Protection Agency planned meetings Wednesday about plans for more disposal panels for defense-related transuranic waste at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico.
The agency has two hybrid public meetings set Wednesday Aug. 28 in Santa Fe, N.M., to discuss DOE’s planned change request for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad. DOE plans to add replacement panels 11 and 12 to recover the lost disposal capacity of about two panels following an underground radiation leak in February 2014.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is in the middle of a public comment period running through Sept. 16 on the DOE proposal. As part of this effort, EPA already held two stakeholder meetings Monday in Carlsbad.
On Wednesday, EPA allotted time for two meetings of up to two hours at the Hilton Santa Fe-Historic Plaza. One session is scheduled to start at 1:00 p.m. Mountain Time and the other at 6:00 p.m. Mountain Time.
More information, including how to register to watch each session via Zoom, is available online. DOE submitted its EPA application on the new panels in May 2023 and EPA says it expects to rule on the application by Nov. 26.
Work crews for DOE’s WIPP prime Salado Isolation Mining Contractors have already started digging in the area selected for Panel 11.
EPA regulates hazardous waste at WIPP, along with the New Mexico Environment Department. DOE is its own regulator for nuclear material and waste certification at WIPP.
