The Energy Department has applied for renewal of the state permit to operate the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico.
The New Mexico Environment Department issued the current Hazardous Waste Facility Permit to DOE and WIPP contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership in late November 2010. The state agency has said it has no timetable for deciding on the permit application submitted March 31.
The only timeline in the regulations is that permit holder must submit a complete renewal application 180 days before the expiration of the current one, which is in December, NMED spokeswoman Maddy Hayden said in a Wednesday email.
This new permit would potentially extend operation of the underground transuranic waste disposal site for 10 years and eliminate language in the current permit that says WIPP will stop emplacing waste in 2024 and be permanently closed within a decade afterward, according to the 1,300-page application.
The existing disposal phase for WIPP is expected to require a period of 25 years beginning with the first receipt of TRU waste in 1999, followed by a period ranging from 7 to 10 years for decontamination, decommissioning, and final closure, Hayden said. As a result, “final closure” is currently listed as 2034.
The renewal application proposes to delete this language and instead introduce a schedule that will end waste emplacement in 2052, Hayden said. The next renewal application would be filed in 2030.
The Energy Department noted in the application that WIPP ceased waste disposal operations for three years as a result of a February 2014 underground radiation leak. In essence, “the final waste emplacement date is unknown at this time,” DOE says.
Citizens groups in New Mexico are wary of this change, with Southwest Research and Information Center (SRIC) Administrator Don Hancock calling this new approach “WIPP forever.”
The application says the underground facility will be considered full when it reaches maximum capacity of about 176,000 cubic meters of waste, as allowed by the 1992 Land Withdrawal Act for WIPP.
Nuclear Waste Partnership, a joint venture comprised of Amentum, BWX Technologies, and subcontractor Orano, manages the disposal site for the Energy Department.
