The Washington, D.C.-based Energy Communities Alliance (ECA) said this week there is no need for New Mexico to revamp the latest state permit for the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., only two years after it was issued.
“It is important to continue and accelerate shipping TRU ]transuranic] waste from Los Alamos National Laboratory as well as Idaho, Washington, Nevada, California, Tennessee, South Carolina, Illinois and other sites,” Oak Ridge, Tenn. City Council member Chuck Hope said in the comments dated June 3..
Hope is currently chair of the ECA.
The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) announced it April is was seeking to to modify the WIPP license, expressing discontent with the rate of legacy transuranic (TRU) shipments from Los Alamos National Laboratory.
In April, the state Environment Department launched a comment period for public feedback on potential modification to the WIPP permit. The governing body of Benton County, Wash., the area where the DOE’s Hanford Site is located, expressed its opposition in recent comments.
“Modifications restricting WIPP’s ability to accept shipments from across the EM [DOE Office of Environmental Management] complex could weaken WIPP’s operations and threaten jobs at WIPP,” Hope wrote. “Reducing shipments to WIPP could have a negative impact on the WIPP facility, potentially disrupting WIPP’s operations, to the detriment of EM sites across the country and their neighboring communities.”
“The current permit is new (2024) and adequately addresses the prioritization of legacy waste across the country and helps to address national environmental cleanup and security concerns,” Hope said in the ECA letter. “We request that NMED continues to work with communities and local governments under the current permit for WIPP.”
ECA represents localities bordering DOE facilities, including the Office of Environmental Management and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) installation.
Hope’s letter on behalf of ECA notes that Los Alamos County, N.M. is a member of ECA.
“DOE blames Congress for not appropriating the additional funds to accelerate the work and Congress blames DOE for not requesting the funding and not prioritizing WIPP shipments in the funding request,” according to the ECA letter. “This dynamic has been ongoing for at least a decade, so it seems that NMED may be trying a different tactic – using WIPP as leverage to accomplish more cleanup.”
WIPP is the nation’s only deep underground repository for defense-related TRU waste. NMED is accepting comments here through June 22.