Anyone who wants to testify about or provide technical comments on the planned new utility shaft at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant during a hearing scheduled for May 17 should let the New Mexico Environment Department know by May 3, the state agency said.
Late last week, the New Mexico Environment Department filed a formal notice that it would host the virtual hearing, after which DOE’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) prime contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership could be allowed to resume work on a new underground shaft at the transuranic waste disposal site 26 miles east of Carlsbad.
The hearing comes after mediated talks in December were unsuccessful in bridging differences between opponents of the shaft on one side and DOE and the Amentum-led Nuclear Waste Partnership on the other. DOE and the prime first filed a permit modification request to start work on the shaft in August 2019. COVID-19 subsequently complicated things.
The New Mexico Environment Department plans to begin the hearing at 12 noon Mountain Time on May 17 and continue it on subsequent weekdays until it’s complete. The hearing is to be held on Zoom due to ongoing precautions implemented in New Mexico due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The permit holders say the new utility shaft is needed for increased control of ventilation airflow in part due to variable frequency drive air-intake fans to be installed at the proposed shaft’s collar, according to a fact sheet posted by NMED. Some public commenters complain that the shaft is part of DOE’s plans to expand the underground mine and operate it for much longer than federal law and its state permit now allow. DOE is seeking permission to operate WIPP until around 2050, even though its current permit requires cessation of most disposal operations by 2024.
In November, Stephanie Stringer, the resource protection director for the state agency, refused to extend a six-month temporary work authorization that expired in October. Stringer cited the high rate of COVID-19 cases around during the first full week in November as one reason for not reissuing the temporary work deal. U.S. infections peaked around that time.
Once finished, the final utility shaft would be 26 feet in diameter and penetrate 2,275 feet below the surface. The prime in 2019 awarded Harrison Western-Shaft Sinkers a $75 million contract to sink the shaft. At the time, completion was expected in 2022.
