The federal government will respond in fewer than two weeks to New Mexico’s request for major changes to the Department of Energy’s long-term transuranic waste disposal program in the state, a senior agency official said at a forum this week.

The New Mexico Environment Department is considering a new 10-year hazardous waste permit for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) disposal site near Carlsbad. As part of that, the state agency seeks a firmer closure date and a DOE commitment to start studying potential alternative locations for another deep underground repository for defense-related transuranic waste.

DOE will file its official comments prior to the current April 19 deadline, according to William (Ike) White, senior adviser for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management.

“Until we get to that point, I can’t say ahead of time what our response to those permit conditions are going to be,” White said. “I can say that we intend to work very collaboratively with the state to address them as constructively as we can.”

“I was candid [during a prior public meeting] when I said we don’t actually have a plan for what comes after WIPP at this point,” White said during the Tuesday forum. “The question is when is the right time for us to think about that.”

White was speaking at a public forum in Santa Fe that also featured Jill Hruby, who heads the National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile. White was responding to an inquiry from Don Hancock, nuclear safety manager of the Albuquerque-based Southwest Research and Information Center.