MISSION: Southwest Research and Information Center is a multi-cultural organization working to promote the health of people and communities, protect natural resources, ensure citizen participation, and secure environmental and social justice now and for future generations

Has the WIPP Monster Mod Been Tamed?

After seventeen days of negotiations between March 9 and May 3, a stipulation was filed by federal and state officials and citizen organizations resolving many issues related to major changes in the operating permit for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The legally binding agreement was signed by the Department of Energy (DOE) and Washington TRU Solutions (the WIPP operating contractor), the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) and New Mexico Attorney General, and Southwest Research and Information Center (SRIC), Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety (CCNS), and Citizens for Alternatives to Radioactive Dumping (CARD). The agreement included about 180 pages with hundreds of changes in the draft permit that NMED issued on November 23, 2005. That draft permit incorporated most of the changes requested by DOE in its “monster mod” request that more than 2,000 people and organizations opposed because it would substantially loosen the health and safety requirements while dramatically increasing the amount and lethality of the waste coming to WIPP (see Voices, Spring 2006).

DOE, the state agencies, and SRIC agreed to support and not challenge any provisions of the draft permit as revised during the public hearing in June. CCNS and CARD agreed to support most of the changes, but not those that allow remote-handled (RH) waste, and, for CARD, some of the provisions regarding monitoring of volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

WHAT CHANGES WERE MADE IN THE DRAFT PERMIT?
Waste Characterization
The draft permit substantially reduced the chemical and physical analysis of waste containers before they can be shipped to WIPP, including for RH waste that is so radioactive that it must be handled by machines to shield workers from the radiation. A core requirement of the New Mexico Hazardous Waste Act and the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act is that there be “a detailed chemical and physical analysis of a representative sample of the wastes” before shipment to any disposal site.

Over the past seven years of WIPP’s operations, virtually all containers had headspace gas sampling and either radiography (x-rays) or visual examination (VE - taking waste out of the containers) at the generator/storage site to determine what was in the containers and that there were no prohibited items. The permit prohibits liquid wastes, pyrophoric materials; explosive and compressed gases; ignitable, corrosive, and reactive wastes; as well as chemically incompatible wastes. In section 310 of the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act of 2005, Congress called for replacing headspace gas sampling with underground VOC monitoring.

A CARD expert witness presents testimony at the WIPP Public Hearing held in Carlsbad, NM on May 31-June 3, 2006.

The negotiated revisions require that radiography or VE be done on each container of RH waste before it can be shipped and on all other containers unless an “Acceptable Knowledge Sufficiency Determination” (AKSD) is approved. That determination is a new process included in the draft permit in which the generator/storage site would demonstrate that its written records (“acceptable knowledge”) was sufficient to determine what hazardous wastes were in each container and that there were no prohibited items. The revised AKSD process includes more stringent requirements, and there can be public comment before NMED finds that the AKSD is adequate. The revision also allows for only one request for a waste stream. The revisions may result in relatively few AKSD requests being made and few being approved, and that the vast majority of containers will continue to have either radiography or VE.

Waste confirmation
The 2005 federal law also established a new “confirmation” process for WIPP. DOE hoped that it would supplant waste characterization and be done at WIPP, primarily to create more jobs in Carlsbad. In the only significant departure from DOE’s plans, the draft permit required confirmation to be done at the generator/storage site before the waste is shipped to WIPP. DOE continued to ask for confirmation, and associated increases in waste storage at WIPP. But in the negotiations, DOE agreed to withdraw its plans for confirmation at WIPP.

Waste storage limits
Although it did not allow confirmation at WIPP, the draft permit allowed a more than doubling of the amount of waste allowed on the surface, both in the Waste Handling Building and in the outside Parking Area. The limits were revised during the negotiations so that some expanded storage capacity is allowed, but some of it is available on in special circumstances as “surge” storage.

Remote-handled waste
A major DOE objective long has been to bring RH waste to WIPP. The 1992 WIPP Land Withdrawal Act includes RH waste, though it establishes some limits on radioactivity levels. In addition, DOE agreed with the State of New Mexico to limit RH waste to 7,079 cubic meters (or less than four percent by volume of WIPP’s capacity).

Citizens have long objected to RH waste because of the dangers from its intense radioactivity and because they saw it as a precursor to changing the law so that high-level waste could be disposed at WIPP. The primary method to prevent RH waste was DOE’s unwillingness to meet waste characterization requirements. In the negotiations, DOE agreed that all RH waste would be repackaged and subject to either radiography or VE. Thus, opponents had to oppose RH waste on health and safety grounds.

A major focus of concern was on the need to use the hot cell at WIPP. The cell and its 54-inch think walls provide protection for workers from radiation and has cranes and other machines to allow waste drums to be taken out of the shipping containers and put into the canister for disposal in the wall of the underground rooms at WIPP. The handling in the Hot Cell includes the possibility of waste containers falling about 40 feet to the floor.

In the negotiations, SRIC also pointed out that since waste had to be repackaged, it could be placed into the larger canisters that don’t require use of the Hot Cell. As a result, the revised permit allows only 390 cubic meters, or less than six percent of the RH capacity, to go through the Hot Cell. That amount is based on the estimated RH inventory at “small quantity sites.” The revision also reduces by almost 40 percent the amount of RH waste that can be disposed over the next several years. That provision makes it likely that there will not be enough room to dispose of the 7,079 cubic meters allowed.

Public notification
As a result of the negotiations, the revisions include a public e-mail notification requirement that is the first of its kind in the nation. For people who request it, DOE will send e-mail notifications and post further information on its website regarding submission of AKSDs, audit reports, use of surge storage capacity, and dispute resolution. Such notification will allow interested people to be appraised of many events and provide an opportunity in some cases for public input before NMED makes decisions.

Outlook
SRIC has strong doubts that DOE will actually be able to increase its contact-handled waste shipments and also handle the amounts of RH waste that DOE demanded be allowed in the permit. Over the next couple of years, actual performance will show whether DOE’s shipment and disposal goals are met. And performance will also show whether DOE can safely package, transport, and dispose the RH waste.

– Don Hancock

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FOR MORE INFORMATION:
The NMED website has the draft permit and revisions, public comments, and information about the hearing process. http://www.nmenv.state.nm.us/wipp/index.html

The WIPP website includes the permit modification request and other materials. http://www.wipp.energy.gov/rcradox/rfc/com_menu.htm

The SRIC website includes other information about WIPP. http://www.sric.org/nuclear/nuclear2.php