The New Mexico Environment Department issued notice Saturday it is moving ahead with an Oct. 23 public hearing in Carlsbad on the Department of Energy’s application to amend the state hazardous waste facility permit for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP).
The hearing will be held at 9 a.m. the Carlsbad branch of New Mexico State University. Technical testimony and other oral comments will be taken by a state hearing officer. Written public comments on the draft permit can be submitted until the conclusion of the public hearing.
The Energy Department and WIPP contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership want to change the way in which waste volume is counted at the underground repository for defense transuranic waste. The federal agency has asked that the gaps between drums in a standard waste container no longer be counted as waste volume, which could effectively reduce the current waste emplacement figure by about 30 percent. Under the current math, DOE has already empaneled roughly 90,000 cubic meters of material, more than half its 176,000-cubic-meter limit.
The Santa Fe New Mexican also reported Saturday that NMED will start negotiations today on draft permit issues prior to the public hearing.
The nongovernmental Southwest Research and Information Center, Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, Nuclear Watch New Mexico, and Citizens for Alternatives to Radioactive Dumping, have all said NMED is rushing things on both the negotiation schedule and the October public hearing date.
The public comment period only ended Thursday, and the NMED’s short notice will exclude some parties, the four advocacy groups said.
