Proposed Expansion of WIPP Topic of EPA Meetings in Carlsbad and Santa Fe Next Week
On Wednesday evening the Stop Forever WIPP Coalition held a webinar to alert people about the opportunity to voice their concerns to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) next week about the Department of Energy (DOE) proposal to expand the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). DOE wants to keep WIPP open until at least 2083 for disposal of radioactive and hazardous wastes 
generated from fabricating triggers, or pits, for nuclear weapons at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. PCR Webinar 082124 final
Public meetings will be held on August 26th and August 28th.
The first public meeting will take place on Monday, August 26th from 2 to 4 pm at the DOE’s Carlsbad Field Office, 4021 National Parks Highway.
The second meeting will be a technical meeting among experts, regulators and the public. It will take place on Wednesday, August 28th from 1 to 3 pm in Santa Fe in the Canyon Ballroom at the Hilton Santa Fe at 100 Sandoval Street.
The third meeting also will take place in the Canyon Ballroom from 6 to 8 pm for EPA to receive public comments.
EPA has two ways to decide about whether to grant DOE’s expansion request. Both provide opportunity for public comments. One way is to conduct an informal, internal decision process. The other is to conduct a rulemaking after which EPA’s decision is subject to appeal to the courts.
The Stop Forever WIPP Coalition believes the DOE’s proposal is a significant change that requires a full rulemaking as argued in a legal memorandum they submitted to EPA in June. EPA Letter and Memo 062424
To comply with EPA’s disposal regulations, DOE must demonstrate that WIPP will contain the plutonium-contaminated waste for 10,000 years.
In the spring of 2024, DOE submitted its planned change request and EPA responded with pages of questions. DOE says there’s no problem, but has not yet answered all of the questions. EPA says DOE’s data is insufficient, unclear, unreliable, only 50 percent supported, and completely missing in many key areas. https://www.epa.gov/radiation/wipp-news#WIPP-PCR
The Coalition has additional questions for EPA and DOE, including
- How will the massively increased oil and gas drilling activities around WIPP affect WIPP’s containment now and into the future?
- How will fracking-induced earthquakes and injected produced water affect WIPP’s integrity now and in the future?
Additional questions are available at https://stopforeverwipp.org/
For more information, visit Stop Forever WIPP at https://stopforeverwipp.org/ and the EPA’s WIPP Planned Change Request webpage at https://www.epa.gov/radiation/wipp-news#WIPP-PCR .
- Friday, August 23rd at noon
at the intersection of West Alameda and Sandoval for the weekly one-hour peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament. Bring your flags, signs and banners. Join the weekly peaceful protest with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, New Mexico Peace Fest, Pax Christi and others.
- Saturday, August 10th through Saturday, August 31st –
2024 Oppenheimer Festival at SALA, 2551 Central Avenue, Los Alamos, NM. Schedules and tickets: https://sala.losalamos.com/
- Thursday, August 29 from 11:30 am to 1 pm MT –
DOE’s Consent-Based Siting Consortia for a Discussion on Expanding the National Conversation on Spent Nuclear Fuel webinar. The fifth installment is entitled, “Amplify & Elevate: Expanding the National Conversation on Spent Nuclear Fuel,” with Dr. Vincent Ialenti, Social Scientist, and Maria Morales, Acting Director, both with the DOE Office of Consent-Based Siting. Register at: https://pnnl.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_AI4bnD-uQiWugE_zrORtfQ Submit your questions to consentbasedsiting@hq.doe.gov
- Friday, August 30 through September –
58 years: a retrospective of works by Cathie Sullivan at El Museo Cultural de Santa Fe, 555 Camino de La Familia, Santa Fe. Opening on August 30 from 5 to 7 pm. The exhibit includes 57 oil paintings, drawings and limited edition silkscreen prints, three bronzes, 20 animal carvings and hand and digitally printed note cards. 80% of sale proceeds will be donated to Amigos Del Parque, Nuclear Watch NM and El Museo Cultural de Santa Fe. https://www.elmuseocultural.org/exhibit/csretro-24
- Tuesday, September 10, 2024 –
Comment Period Extended about the Second Five-Year Report about the DOE/Sandia Mixed Waste Landfill. For information about the hazards, leaks and threats of not removing the waste from the unlined Mixed Waste Landfill (MWL), visit the Citizen Action New Mexico website at: https://www.radfreenm.org/index.php To review the public notice and administrative information about the MWL, go to the New Mexico Environment Department: https://www.env.nm.gov/hazardous-waste/snl-mwl-2/
In your comments, provide your name and address and reference: SNL – MWL Second Five-Year Report, December 2023. A sample public comment letter developed by Demand Nuclear Abolition is available here: MWL letter Rev. 1 August 2024
Submit them through: https://nmed.commentinput.com/comment/search under 60-Day Comment Period: Sandia National Labs Mixed Waste Landfill Second Five-Year Report, or email them to:
Neelam Dhawan, Acting Program Manager
NMED – Hazardous Waste Bureau
2905 Rodeo Park Drive East, Bldg. 1
Santa Fe, NM 87505-6303
Email: neelam.dhawan@env.nm.gov
Phone: 505-476-6000
September 16th to 22nd Week of Action: Nuclear Weapons – Pressure the Corporate Profiteers – Boycotts, Divestment and Shaming. For more information: https://warheadstowindmills.org/events/. Local NM events are being planned now.
- September 23rd to 29th Week of Action: Fossil Fuels – Pressure the Corporate Profiteers –
Boycotts, Divestment and Shaming. For more information: https://warheadstowindmills.org/events/. Local NM events are being planned now.
Tags: Department of Energy, DOE, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, fracking-induced earthquakes, geologic integrity, injected produced water, LANL, Los Alamos National Laboratory, oil and gas drilling activities, PCR, Planned Change Request, rulemaking, Stop Forever WIPP Coalition, Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, WIPP
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