ALERT: THIS TRUCK IS ON ITS OWN!
On November 21, 2000, a WIPP truck driver
from Idaho failed to make the turnoff from I-25 to U.S. 285
at the Lamy exit. The satellite watch system failed
to work. The folks in Tennessee in charge of the TRANSCOM
system and the Carlsbad Area Office were asleep at the wheel.
Only the New Mexico State Police Department dispatcher caught
the mistake. She notified state authorities and the
truck containing plutonium contaminated wastes was turned
around before it hit the orange barrels in Albuquerque, during
rush hour, during one of the busiest travel days of the year.
New Mexico explicitly excluded WIPP waste transportation on
this section of I-25 because of the danger and so the truck
route was illegal. DOE suspended Tristate Trucking for
30 days pending an investigation. Since the failure
also involved the Transcom System, DOE should have suspended
all transports pending an investigation.
BULLETIN: WIPP IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS.
. . ANY BUSINESS?
DOE’s asks to open waste barrels at
WIPP
Last summer, DOE asked the New Mexico State
Environment Department (NMED) to modify its WIPP permit to
allow barrels of waste to be opened at WIPP in order to do
tests to verify that the acceptable knowledge paperwork is
accurate. The tests are required by regulations and
the permit. The permit modification would allow generator
sites to avoid some of their own testing in favor of the tests
being performed at WIPP. In addition, in its original submission,
DOE asked that the WIPP above ground storage be expanded by
25% and that the time limit for leaving waste above ground
be indefinitely extended. DOE withdrew its permit modification
request on September 29, 2000, but is expected to resubmit
the request soon. At issue is how much public involvement
is required. DOE first submitted its request under a
Class 2 modification that would allow the public to make informal
comments, but essentially leave the decision to NMED.
Nuclear Watch and other groups have insisted that this is
a major modification requiring a formal hearing, with a decision
that could be appealed in court. NMED has publicly stated
that it believes this is a Class 3 modification. If
a Class 3 modification is preliminarily approved by NMED,
a public comment period will follow, probably after Christmas
this year and then there will be public hearings on this modification,
perhaps in February, 2001.
DOE proposes to bury RH-TRU at WIPP without
verification tests
DOE has run the idea of a second permit
modification up the flag pole. DOE is conducting workshops
with NMED and others to argue that WIPP be allowed to accept
remote handled (RH) (that is, radioactive waste that is too
hot to handle except by remote control through shielded containers)
transuranic (TRU) (that is, plutonium contaminated) waste
to be buried at WIPP without verifying acceptable knowledge
paperwork through testing. WIPP’s current state
permit excludes RH-TRU because during the permit process in
1999, DOE did not submit sufficient documentation about what
was in the barrels. Now, citing worker safety at the
generator sites, DOE is saying that it will submit a permit
modification in Spring, 2001 to bury RH-TRU without the previously
required documentation. The modification would ask to
ship RH-TRU waste to WIPP by 2002, one year earlier than previous
plans.
DOE asks EPA to let WIPP bury PCBs
On August 8th of this year DOE asked EPA
Region 6 to allow WIPP to accept PCB wastes including free
liquids that contain PCBs. The request from Ines Triay,
Carlsbad Area Office Manager, stated “it is the intent
of DOE to dispose of the TRU and TRU mixed waste containing
PCB at WIPP based on the assumption that all these wastes
have PCBs in concentrations greater than 500 PPM. . . “
Current federal law including the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
Land Withdrawal Act and the Toxic Control Substances Act prevents
burial of PCB wastes in concentrations greater than 50 ppm.
On another front, a Task Force of the Secretary of
Energy Advisory Board will release a draft report this month
that recommends consideration of PCB burial at WIPP as one
alternative to building a huge incinerator at the Idaho National
Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. The report
will recommend that no changes to current law be implemented
without full public comment.
Lawsuit protesting the use of a Class I modification
to allow mixed waste in panel 1.
On May 2, SRIC and two individuals asked that the New Mexico
Court of Appeals overturn the NMED decision to allow mixed
waste disposal in panel 1 without providing for any public
notice or comment. The Court has agreed to look at the
issue. The Court scheduled a settlement conference on
December 6. If settlement is not reached, briefs will
be filed in January and February.
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