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SRS plutonium shipments, other concerns push New Mexico official to seek review of DOE
An official in New Mexico has asked a watchdog to review how the Department of Energy deals with nuclear wastes in the state, listing among his concerns the department’s plan to ship processed plutonium out of South Carolina for entombment near Carlsbad. State Environment Secretary James Kenney requested the Government Accountability Office’s intervention in a letter Dec. 22, saying the New Mexico Environment Department “strongly supports” oversight “and would like to directly share our” experience. His ask echoes that of six members of Congress, who last month also petitioned the GAO to examine management challenges and other issues that have impeded remediation of nuclear sites across the U.S. Kenney specifically took issue with cleanup timelines at Los Alamos National Laboratory, as well as an alleged lack of transparency regarding shipments to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, a salt mine-like repository for transuranic waste, typically contaminated gloves, tools, debris and soil. Expanding the scope of what can be buried at the plant is “problematic,” the regulator suggested, as is prioritizing other states at the expense of New Mexico. Immediate congressional supervision, he added, is needed. The federal government intends to send metric tons of plutonium — a hazardous substance used in nuclear weapons — to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant after it’s been handled and adulterated at the Savannah River Site. Dilute-and-dispose, as it is known, is a viable process, but only if certain vulnerabilities are addressed, a National Academies study said in 2020. A spokesperson on Thursday told the Aiken Standard the Energy Department “takes seriously its responsibility for safely cleaning up transuranic waste generator sites, and in timely disposal of newly generated TRU waste, in support of our country’s national defense mission.” The spokesperson emphasized that “shipments are prioritized according to the availability of certified TRU waste that meets” WIPP’s stringent regulations. A tranche of packaged plutonium will likely be trucked from South Carolina to New Mexico this summer, according to Jason Armstrong, the National Nuclear Security Administration’s manager at the Savannah River Site. A former executive with Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, the team that manages SRS, has said the same. Prepping the material, transporting it to the Land of Enchantment and, ultimately, interring it is no simple task; Armstrong has described the operation as an “extensive effort” with many players in many places. The trip will mark another step toward ridding the Palmetto Sate of a plutonium stockpile. But Savannah River Site Watch, a Columbia-based monitor, on social media hinted the worries raised by Kenney signal problems for Savannah River Site disposal plans. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant is a linchpin in the nation’s cleanup efforts; space there is coveted, and there are many competing interests. WIPP received its 13,000 shipment of transuranic waste in November. It came from Idaho. Nearly 1,700 shipments have arrived from the Savannah River Site over the years. The Santa Fe New Mexican reported on Kenney’s letter Jan. 3. |
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