Effective this past Friday, the Department of Energy’s new 10-year New Mexico Environment Department permit is officially in place for the nation’s only deep underground disposal site for defense-related transuranic waste.
Renewal of the state’s hazardous waste facility permit for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant was finalized last month. In August, the state, DOE, federal contractor Salado Isolation Mining Contractors and many stakeholder groups announced they had hammered out a collaborative permit agreement to avoid litigation.
Among other things, the new permit requires DOE to hold regular public updates on what’s happening at WIPP and submit an annual report outlining what steps it is taking to find another transuranic waste disposal site outside of New Mexico.
