The U.S. Department of Energy on Friday backed storage of up to 6,800 metric tons of elemental mercury in existing buildings at the Waste Control Specialists (WCS) property near Andrews, Texas.

Using two buildings at the licensed commercial waste disposal site will be cheaper than building new structures and simplify the Energy Department procurement processes, the agency said in its record of decision. It will also have negligible environmental impacts, according to DOE.

The ROD follows up on a supplemental analysis issued by DOE’s Office of Environmental Management in June, which built on a draft environmental impact statement issued in 2010 that found the WCS facility was the preferred alternative for storing up to 10,000 metric tons of elemental mercury.

Over the years DOE has studied both its own facilities and commercial options for the mercury storage, including possibly building a facility on the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant property near Carlsbad, N.M. The federal agency has now settled upon using the Container Storage Building for Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and nonhazardous wastes and Bin Storage Unit 1 at WCS.

Publication of the supplemental environmental analysis this summer generated only five letters to DOE, only one of which expressed opposition to making WCS the preferred alternative, the agency said.

Earlier this year, the Energy Department asked WCS to submit a task proposal for long-term storage of 1,200 metric tons of mercury from the Y-12 National Security Complex at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee.

The Mercury Export Ban Act of 2008 sought to reduce availability of elemental or metallic mercury for purposes such as mining. It also called for establishment of a domestic site for long-term storage of this type of mercury generated within the United States.