The New Mexico Environment Department could issue a 10-year draft permit for the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., before Christmas, a state spokesperson said recently.
The draft permit for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) should be released for public comment by late November or early December, Matthew Maez of the New Mexico Environment Department, said in a recent email reply to Exchange Monitor.
The DOE disposal site for defense-related transuranic waste could have its new permit acted upon by the state in early 2023, the head of DOE’s Carlsbad field office, has said. Although the old permit technically expired in 2021, WIPP can continue to operate because it had already applied for a new one
The draft permit will ultimately be posted on the state agency’s WIPP webpage, Maez, said.
The state has the power to regulate WIPP’s hazardous waste under the New Mexico Hazardous Waste Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, according to the website. Under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, New Mexico is authorized to operate in lieu of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
New Mexico lacks authority to regulate radiological aspects of the waste at WIPP, which falls under EPA’s Radiation Protection Program, according to the website.
The new state permit applications includes a request from DOE and its prime contractor, Nuclear Waste Partnership, to develop Panels 11 and 12 for waste disposal in the salt mine. The DOE said last week that it has finished filling Panel 7, which was contaminated by a February 2014 radiation leak, and will soon commence waste disposal in Panel 8.
