Kenneth Fletcher
WC Monitor
2/14/2014
The White House Office of Management and Budget has blocked funding from being used at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant for thermal testing of disposal of high-level waste in salt, officials said this week. The Fiscal Year 2014 omnibus spending bill enacted last month included $18 million in funding for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management for technology development at WIPP. Officials had hoped some of that funding would be used for a salt testing program at the repository. “We were extremely disappointed to find out that this funding has been rescinded,” Carlsbad Mayor Dale Janway said this week. “It is our understanding that this decision was made because OMB did not find specific language to authorize the use of technology funding for salt research. This is a tragic loss of momentum on a project that is greatly needed for the future.”
The Department of Energy and WIPP supporters have been touting a thermal testing program at WIPP in which artificial heaters would be placed in the salt mine to mimic the impacts of high-level waste. In the wake of the Yucca Mountain shutdown, such a study would help determine whether or not disposal of additional defense waste or commercial spent fuel could occur in a salt repository. While WIPP is currently restricted to disposing only defense transuranic waste, in recent years consideration has been given to using the site for Hanford tank waste and Savannah River vitrified waste. Mining of an area for testing and some initial procurements of materials for the program has already taken place using NE funding provided previously. However, neither DOE’s FY’14 budget request nor report language in the omnibus bill specifically directs funding to the WIPP thermal tests. “Salt Defense Disposal Investigations activity has not begun at WIPP,” DOE Carlsbad spokeswoman Deb Gill said this week.
NE Funds Could be Used
Supporters of the project are now hoping that DOE Office of Nuclear Energy funds will be used for the test, given that NE’s FY’14 budget request includes a line item calling for “field tests to advance salt repository science for disposal of heat generating waste.” Carlsbad officials have asked their Congressional delegation, including Sens. Tom Udall (D) and Martin Heinrich (D) and Rep. Steve Pearce (R), to fight for the program. “We call upon our congressional delegation to work with NE to make sure that $5 million of that funding goes to generic thermal testing at WIPP,” John Heaton, Chair of the Carlsbad Mayor’s Nuclear Task Force, said in a statement. Janway said the delegation has assured him “that they are committed to correcting this problem with the FY’15 budget.”
NM Delegation Support Salt Study Funding
In a joint statement, Sens. Udall and Heinrich said: “We have supported this salt study as a part of a broad DOE research program into various future disposal options, to be led and directed by scientific experts. We have been in contact with the administration asking to find another source of funding that would allow the salt study to continue.” Pearce spokesman Eric Layer said this week: “Our office is working with the Senate offices to understand the Administration’s decision and ultimately resolve any problems.” OMB did not respond to a request for comment late this week.
Carlsbad officials emphasize that they have widespread support. “EM has the responsibility for dispositioning [Defense High Level Waste], EM owns and manages WIPP, and EM has shown us a commitment to perform this mission-critical test in WIPP,” Janway said. Heaton added: “I think everyone is on the same page. From New Mexico’s governor to our congressional delegation, to researchers and members of the Carlsbad community, everyone is on board and would like to see a thermal test begin as quickly as possible.”
