The New Mexico Environment Department this week approved 10 more years of operation for the nation’s only deep underground disposal site for defense-related transuranic waste.
The order was issued Wednesday authorizing renewal of the state’s hazardous waste facility permit for the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The document was signed by Michelle Miano, who heads the New Mexico Environment Department’s Environmental Protection Division.
The permit agreement “is hereby approved in its entirety,” the state agency said in the three-page order. The proposed final permit was rolled out Aug. 15 after negotiations in June featuring DOE, WIPP prime Salado Isolation Mining Contractors and New Mexico advocacy groups.
Along with DOE and its contractor, parties involved in the talks were Carlsbad Department of Development, Citizens for Alternatives to Radioactive Dumping, Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, Conservation Voters of New Mexico, Nuclear Watch New Mexico, Southwest Alliance for a Safe Future, Southwest Research and Information Center, and Steve Zappe. Zappe is a retired New Mexico Environment Department manager who helped oversee WIPP compliance.
New Mexico residents who spoke during a hybrid public meeting last month generally supported the toughened WIPP permit, which gives the state more sway in the future of the underground salt mine facility. The final permit takes effect on Nov. 3.
Some WIPP critics said they find much to like in the final version, including a provision requiring DOE to report annually on what the feds are doing to look for another transuranic waste disposal site outside New Mexico.
Other changes grant the state more clout to suspend WIPP operations if an accident threatens workers or the environment; a provision giving increased priority to legacy waste, especially such waste from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.
“The new permit will benefit New Mexico and legacy waste clean-up from around the U.S. for years to come,” New Mexico Environment Department Cabinet Secretary James Kenney said in a Thursday press release.
“We look forward to continuing our ongoing and positive relationships with NMED [the New Mexico Environment Department], our stakeholders, the public, and our host communities as we continue WIPP’s important national cleanup mission,” a DOE spokesperson said Friday morning.
In announcing the final approval, the New Mexico Environment Department published a 67-page document that touches upon various public comments received since Dec. 20, 2022 when the first version of the draft permit was released.
WIPP is located 25 miles outside of Carlsbad and Carlsbad’s mayor Dale Janway is a vocal supporter of the major local employer.
“WIPP also provides thousands of high-paying jobs to New Mexico residents and an opportunity for scientists and engineers growing up around Carlsbad to continue to do so,” Janway said in his public comments.
One thing citizen groups did not receive was a clearly-defined date for WIPP closure, which remains tied to WIPP being filled to the 6.2 million cubic feet limit in the WIPP Land Withdrawal Act. A condition in the new permit could trigger a “notice of revocation” if this limit is increased or if other types of radioactive wastes are authorized by the feds, according to the comment document.
