DOE Agrees to Independent Review of WIPP Incidents

The Department of Energy is planning to support an independent review of the incidents earlier this year at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, a condition previously called for by New Mexico for restart of the facility. In order to regain confidence in the facility, the state needs a firm answer on the cause of the event that has been verified by an independent peer-reviewed team, New Mexico Environment Department Secretary Ryan Flynn said in September. "Details of an independent peer review of the events at WIPP and LANL are still being determined, however such details will be made available as soon as soon as they are finalized. NMED is pleased that New Mexico Tech will be involved," NMED spokesman Jim Winchester said yesterday in a written response.

 

DOE has agreed to NMED’s request for a peer review of the conclusions of DOE’s Technical Assessment Team.  “The Department is committed to re-opening WIPP and understands the need to provide the public with the trust and confidence that we can do so safely. The Technical Assessment Team was established to provide an understanding of what happened during the radiological event at WIPP and brings together the technical expertise of five national labs,” a DOE spokesperson said in a written response. “We are supportive of the request to have the Teams work evaluated and believe that it will provide additional confidence in our ability to learn from the events at WIPP to ensure the future safe operations of the facility. The scope and timing of the review are still being discussed.”