New Mexico Environment Department Secretary Butch Tongate has allowed the U.S. Energy Department to change the way it counts material volume at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad so vacant spaces between container drums are no longer recorded as waste.
Tongate took the position favored by DOE and its prime contractor for WIPP, Nuclear Waste Partnership, in a Dec. 21 decision that adopts the recommendations of state Hearing Officer Max Shepherd. The hearing officer recommended on Dec. 10 the waste volume measured against the disposal cap set by the 1992 WIPP Land Withdrawal Act should cover only the actual transuranic waste inside containers, rather than counting empty spaces or packing material.
Including empty spaces or filler material against the law’s maximum of 176,000 cubic meters of defense-related transuranic waste could lead to “premature” retirement of the underground disposal facility, DOE had argued. The change to WIPP’s state hazardous waste facility permit will cut the waste volume figure by about 30 percent from its current level of 94,000 cubic meters, according to the hearing officer’s report.
In the two-page document adopting the report, Tongate did not elaborate on his reasons for concurring with the hearing officer but stressed the public comments, stakeholder negotiations, and an October public hearing that were considered in development of the Shepherd report.
Advocacy groups such as Nuclear Watch New Mexico have said Tongate, as part of the administration of now-former Gov. Susana Martinez (R), was hurrying to get the decision out the door before Tuesday’s inauguration of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat. Foes have also argued the new counting method is a radical departure from established practice.
