Almost $27 million will be earmarked for road improvements around the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) as an outgrowth of a 2016 settlement between the Energy Department and the state of New Mexico, Gov. Susana Martinez said this week.
The funding should shore up New Mexico routes used for transporting Energy Department transuranic waste to the nation’s only underground repository for such material.
The spending is part of the $74 settlement between the state and DOE in the wake of the February 2014 underground fire and subsequent, unrelated radiation release at WIPP. The radiation incident was later connected to a container that had been shipped from DOE’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in northern New Mexico.
“When we first learned of the fire and radiation leak in 2014, we moved quickly to hold the federal government accountable, and I’m pleased that we’ll be able to use these funds to further strengthen the safety of WIPP and the surrounding communities,” Martinez said in a news release.
The $26.8 million should help repave 180 miles on four roadways in southeast New Mexico, according to the state news release. All funding from the settlement is to be used for projects in the Carlsbad and Los Alamos areas.
