Archive for the ‘News’ Category
Nuclear waste from New Mexico lab may go to Texas
March 20, 2014
By Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — With the government’s only permanent nuclear waste dump shuttered indefinitely by back-to-back accidents, officials are making plans to ship radioactive waste from Los Alamos National Laboratory to rural West Texas.
The Department of Energy and the operator of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad in southeastern New Mexico say they have signed an agreement with Waste Control Specialists to truck the waste to its site in Andrews County.
The agreement will help Los Alamos meet a June deadline for getting the last of thousands of barrels of plutonium-contaminated clothing, tools, rags and other debris off its northern New Mexico campus before wildfire season hits its peak.
The waste, which is shipped and stored in huge sealed canisters, would come back to New Mexico for final disposal once the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant reopens.
"We are pleased that WCS is in a position to provide temporary storage for this waste while the WIPP is shutdown," said Waste Control Specialists President Rod Baltzer. "This will allow the Los Alamos National Laboratory to meet its goal of having this material removed by this summer so it can no longer be threatened by wildfires. WCS has never had a wildfire because all surrounding areas are covered with asphalt and caliche roadways. In addition, the waste will be in storage facilities that have sprinkler system, and in the event of an emergency, WCS has its own fire truck on site."
But not everyone applauded the plan. Watchdog Greg Mello of the Los Alamos Study Group says that shipping the waste twice increases the chance of an accident because it has to be loaded and unloaded twice. And he notes that "there is essentially no danger of wildfire, the surrounding vegetation having been burned."
The West Texas site has in the past taken some less toxic waste from Los Alamos, but the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant is the nation’s only permanent repository for low-level radioactive waste from nuclear weapons facilities.
Waste Control Specialists is licensed to take radioactive materials such as uranium, plutonium and thorium from commercial power plants, academic institutions and medical schools, as well as some DOE waste. It is also the burial ground for dirt from a Hudson River Superfund site that’s tainted with PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls.
Chuck McDonald, a spokesman for the plant, said federal officials are working with regulators at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to make sure that storing the Los Alamos waste is allowable under its permits.
The state of New Mexico pressured Los Alamos to get the waste off its campus in the northern New Mexico mountains following a massive 2011 wildfire that lapped at the edges of lab property. The waste from decades of bomb building has been stored outside on a mesa. Following the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant shutdown, the state and Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., emphasized that the deadline was non-negotiable.
"Removing waste from the mesa in Los Alamos before fire season is critical to ensure safety in the greater Los Alamos community," Udall said in a statement Thursday. "I’m pleased we have a temporary solution that will ensure there will not be any significant disruption in cleanup efforts."
Los Alamos spokesman Matt Nerzig said the lab’s target date to resume shipments is April 1. He said Los Alamos anticipates about 140 more shipments to clear the remaining 20 percent of the waste over the next three months.
Waste Isolation Pilot Plant stopped taking all waste shipments following a Feb. 5 underground truck fire. Nine days later, a radiation release contaminated 17 workers and sent particles of plutonium and americium in the air around the plant.
The plant has been closed ever since, and officials are working on plans to get underground to figure out what caused the leak and the extent of contamination.
A team that investigated the truck fire last week issued a report that cited a series of shortcomings in safety training, emergency response and oversight. It is unclear, however, if the fire and leak are related.
And because no one has yet been inside the half-mile deep mine since the leak, there are no estimates on how long the plant might be shuttered for cleanup.
Richard Dolgener, the county judge for Andrews County, said the DOE has had the West Texas plant "on the drawing board" as a contingency to the nuclear waste dump for about 10 years.
"I guess they’re going to execute it," he said
Cyrus Reed, spokesman for the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club, questioned whether temporary means one year or 100 years.
Waste Control Specialists, he said, is "becoming a catch-all site for anyone’s problem."
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Betsy Blaney contributed reporting from Lubbock, Texas.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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LOS ALAMOS NUCLEAR WASTE HEADS TO TEXAS TEMPORARILY AFTER RADIATION LEAKS
March 20, 2014
By Bob Brewin
NextGov
Commercial crews load the first of two containers with low-level radioactive waste from Los Alamos National Laboratory. // Betsy Blaney/AP File Photo
The Energy Department has decided to use a commercial nuclear waste dump while it struggles to reopen its underground storage site after two radiation leaks and a fire since February.
Energy and Nuclear Waste Partners, its contractor for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant located 26 miles southeast of Carlsbad, N.M., said they plan to ship nuclear waste from Los Alamos National Laboratory to a commercial site in Andrews, Texas, operated by Waste Control Specialists. Andrews is 100 miles east of Carlsbad.
WIPP, by law, can only store waste generated by the country’s nuclear weapons programs. Waste Control Specialists stores commercial nuclear waste from nuclear power plants and hospitals.
Los Alamos has stored transuranic waste, debris, soil, tools and clothing contaminated primarily with plutonium above ground for years. In 2011, the largest forest fire in the history of New Mexico came within 3.5 miles of this waste, stored in 55 gallon drums and larger containers for machinery.
The lab and the state of New Mexico agreed in January 2012 to ship 3,706 cubic meters of above-ground waste from the lab to WIPP by June 30 of this year. WIPP was closed for routine maintenance last month and was supposed to reopen this month to receive waste shipments from Los Alamos.
Lab spokesman Matt Nerzig said 80 percent of the 3,706 cubic meters of waste has already been sent to WIPP and the other 20 percent will now be shipped to Waste Control Specialists, starting April 1.
Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., said in a statement that “Removing waste from the mesa in Los Alamos before fire season is critical to ensure safety in the greater Los Alamos community. The state’s June 2014 deadline was firm and nonnegotiable, as I made clear in repeated conversations with Energy Secretary [Ernest] Moniz since the Feb. 14 accident at WIPP."
Udall added, "I’m pleased we have a temporary solution that will ensure there will not be any significant disruption in cleanup efforts" at WIPP.
Energy and Nuclear Waste Partners said the waste from Los Alamos sent to Waste Control Specialists will be moved to WIPP for final disposal once that site reopens, but gave no date. Shipments to Waste Control Specialists "are contingent upon the completion of an appropriate National Environmental Policy Act analysis," they said.
Udall said he also plans to press Energy to provide him with its transportation plans for the Los Alamos waste to Texas. This, he said, should include, "the impact on roads, traffic and security through southeast New Mexico. DoE needs to ensure the resources are in place for safe transportation and security.”
WIPP stores waste in 16 miles of salt caverns mined 2,150 feet below the surface. Chuck McDonald, a spokesman for Waste Control Specialists, said the Los Alamos waste will be stored above ground at its 1,338-acre facility.
Rod Baltzer, president of Waste Control Specialists, emphasized the security of the company’s facilities. “This will allow the Los Alamos National Laboratory to meet its goal of having this material removed by this summer so it can no longer be threatened by wildfires,” he said. “WCS has never had a wildfire because all surrounding areas are covered with asphalt and caliche roadways. In addition, the waste will be in storage facilities that have sprinkler system, and in the event of an emergency, WCS has its own fire truck on site."
This document contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. SEED Coalition is making this article available in our efforts to advance understanding of ecological sustainability, human rights, economic democracy and social justice issues. We believe that this constitutes a "fair use" of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond "fair use", you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
35 workers training to re-enter underground mine at troubled nuclear-waste dump
March 22, 2014
Article by Associated Press
CARLSBAD, N.M. — Employees at the federal government’s troubled nuclear waste dump in southeastern New Mexico are preparing to enter the facility’s underground mine for the first time since a radiation leak contaminated workers last month.
The U.S. Department of Energy announced Saturday that 35 workers have undergone training simulations at a Potash mine before re-entry next week into the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP).
Employees went through a two-hour underground session using protective gear and air-breathing units, officials said.
Workers spent this week training for various scenarios that could occur in the mine.
According to the Department of Energy, the plan is for workers to set up an operating camp near a salt-handling shaft and then check for a secondary exit in the shaft that controls air flow. After that, they will focus on finding the source of the radiation release.
The repository near Carlsbad stopped taking all waste shipments after an underground truck fire on Feb. 5. Nine days later, a radiation release shuttered the plant. A series of shortcomings in maintenance, safety training, emergency response and oversight were cited by a team that investigated the truck fire.
The New Mexico Environment Department withdrew a preliminary permit this week for the dump’s request to expand its facility, citing the fire and the leak.
It is unclear, however, if the two incidents are related.
The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant is the nation’s only permanent underground repository for low-level radioactive waste, including things like plutonium-contaminated gloves, tools and protective clothing, from nuclear weapons facilities.
With the nuclear waste dump shuttered, operators for the plan made an agreement with Waste Control Specialists to ship radioactive waste from Los Alamos National Laboratory to rural west Texas.
This document contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. SEED Coalition is making this article available in our efforts to advance understanding of ecological sustainability, human rights, economic democracy and social justice issues. We believe that this constitutes a "fair use" of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond "fair use", you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Los Alamos lab turns to Texas to temporarily store radioactive waste
Mar 20, 2014
BY JOSEPH J. KOLB
Reuters News
ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (Reuters) – The Los Alamos National Laboratory has found a temporary home in Texas for roughly 1,000 barrels of radioactive junk left in limbo after a radiation leak led to a prolonged shutdown of New Mexico’s only nuclear waste disposal facility.
Los Alamos, one of the leading U.S. nuclear weapons labs, said earlier this month it had been forced to halt shipments of its radioactive refuse some 300 miles across the state to the nation’s only underground nuclear repository, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, near Carlsbad.
The repository has remained closed while the U.S. Department of Energy investigates the origins of a radiation leak that occurred there on February 14, exposing at least 17 workers to radioactive contamination. It was the first such mishap since the facility opened in 1999.
That left a quandary for Los Alamos, which faces a strict June 30 deadline to dispose of roughly 1,000 temporary storage drums of radiation-contaminated waste. The lab said on Thursday that waste would be sent to the Waste Control Specialists facility in Andrews County, Texas.
The waste that will go to Texas includes clothing, tools, rags, debris, soil and other items contaminated with low levels of radiation, Los Alamos said. It will be held in Texas temporarily, pending the reopening of the New Mexico repository.
According to Los Alamos lab spokesman Matt Nerzig, the waste will begin to be shipped to the temporary site in early April, ahead of the June deadline set by the state environmental department to remove it from the Los Alamos campus.
Established during World War Two as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project to build the world’s first atomic bomb, Los Alamos remains one of the leading nuclear weapons manufacturing facilities in the United States.
A massive wildfire that raged at the edge of the complex in 2011 burned to within a few miles of a collection of radioactive waste drums temporarily stored at the site. Since then, Energy Department and state officials have made the removal of the waste a top environmental priority.
(Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Cynthia Osterman)
This document contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. SEED Coalition is making this article available in our efforts to advance understanding of ecological sustainability, human rights, economic democracy and social justice issues. We believe that this constitutes a "fair use" of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond "fair use", you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
LOS ALAMOS TRU TO BE STORED AT WASTE CONTROL SPECIALISTS
March 21, 2014
Kenneth Fletcher
Los Alamos Study Group
While the Department of Energy this week announced that it plans to send transuranic waste from Los Alamos National Laboratory to Waste Control Specialists for temporary storage, there is a tight time frame for completing preparations for the shipments. DOE has committed to New Mexico to completing its campaign for removal of aboveground transuranic waste by a June deadline, despite the indefinite shutdown of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. Shipments to WCS will need to start in early April in order to meet the deadline, according to DOE. However, they cannot take place until the completion of a National Environmental Policy Act analysis—and it is unclear how long that will take.
WCS expects to be able to accept the "vast majority of the remaining LANL waste," according to company spokesman Chuck McDonald. However, a portion of the LANL material that may not meet criteria for acceptance at WCS may need to either be sent to another DOE site for temporary storage or repackaged before being sent to WCS. "Based on evaluations to date, we predict that the vast majority requires no additional repackaging or recertification. However, the detailed review of the inventory is still continuing," a DOE spokesperson said.
Waste Will Go From WCS to WIPP After Startup
The waste in question is the last portion of 3,706 cubic meters of transuranic waste stored aboveground at LANL that were targeted in a framework agreement with New Mexico for removal by June—a deal brokered after a wildfire in 2011 threatened the material. The campaign had been in its final stages when WIPP shut down indefinitely last month due to two incidents: a salt truck fire and a radiation release. DOE officials have promised to meet the June deadline. "The LANL waste will be staged so that it can be disposed of as soon as WIPP resumes waste receipt operations," J. R. Stroble, DOE’s Director of the National Transuranic Program, said in a statement. "These shipments will be managed just like other WIPP shipments. The Department will continue to evaluate potential alternatives for other DOE transuranic waste generating sites until WIPP is fully operational."
This week WIPP contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership said it would subcontract with WCS to stage the waste at the commercial low-level waste disposal facility about 75 miles from WIPP. "A letter contract was awarded on Monday, not to exceed $500,000. It anticipates a definitized contract in the near future, which will have more specific terms. It is DOE’s intent that NWP acquire temporary staging only until WIPP resumes operations," the DOE spokesperson said. NWP spokesman Donavan Mager said in a written response: "The terms and conditions are still be negotiated as part of a final contract to be completed by the end of March."
WCS Will Place Waste in Covered Facility
The LANL waste will be placed in an indoor covered storage facility at WCS. "The WCS workforce is well trained and experienced in handling this type of waste," WCS President Rod Baltzer said in a statement. "We will inspect all incoming canisters to insure that they are sealed and there has been no breach. WCS has a sophisticated inspection and monitoring system in the buildings where the canisters will be stored to insure the safety of our employees and the environment." Baltzer also emphasized that WCS has never had a wildfire, and that the storage facilities have a sprinkler system and there is a fire truck on site.
State Applauds the Move
New Mexico Environment Department Secretary Ryan Flynn applauded the move. "Governor [Susana] Martinez has worked aggressively and effectively with the federal government to make sure they fulfill their promise of removing the above-ground transuranic waste at Los Alamos and storing it in a safe and appropriate manner," Flynn said in a statement. "She continues to work them to accomplish this goal on schedule, which is critical in light of the rapidly approaching fire season. It’s up to experts at DOE to determine what steps they need to take to do this job safely and properly, and up to New Mexico and Texas to ensure this is done within the confines of our regulatory requirements. We are very encouraged by DOE’s effort to keep the 3706 campaign on track even under these difficult circumstances."
‘The Problems With This Plan are Legion’
But the WCS option was met with skepticism by Greg Mello of the Los Alamos Study Group, an activist organization. "The problems with this plan are legion," Mello said in an e-mail. Finishing the NEPA analysis in time "will set some sort of speed record," Mello said. Problems also include the need to transport the material twice and load and unload it twice. "This is all about appearances and public relations and visual impact (hidden is better, some say)," Mello said. He continued: "There is no significant fire danger for this waste at LANL. Upon information and belief, most flammable drums have been shipped and there is essentially no danger of wildfire, the surrounding vegetation having been burned."
But Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM) also hailed the decision. "Removing waste from the mesa in Los Alamos before fire season is critical to ensure safety in the greater Los Alamos community," Udall said in a statement. "The state’s June 2014 deadline was firm and non-negotiable, as I made clear in repeated conversations with Energy Secretary [Ernest] Moniz since the Feb. 14 accident at WIPP. I’m pleased we have a temporary solution that will ensure there will not be any significant disruption in cleanup efforts. By law, WIPP is the only permanent repository for TRU waste from Los Alamos and other nuclear weapons facilities, and I look forward to continued progress in the recovery March 21, 2014 Weapons Complex Monitor # ExchangeMonitor Publications, Inc. 7 efforts. In the meantime, I will be pressing DOE for details about its transportation plan, including the impact on roads, traffic and security through Southeast New Mexico. DOE needs to ensure the resources are in place for safe transportation and security."
This document contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. SEED Coalition is making this article available in our efforts to advance understanding of ecological sustainability, human rights, economic democracy and social justice issues. We believe that this constitutes a "fair use" of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond "fair use", you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.