It is always interesting to learn how the Department of Energy and its contractors prioritize their work at Los Alamos National Laboratory. This week, the public learned that DOE asked the LANL cleanup contractor, N3B, to request that the New Mexico Environment Department move 19 hazardous waste sites from one part of the hazardous waste permit to another. https://n3b-la.com/n3b-los-alamos-hosts-public-meeting-on-cleanup-status-of-19-historical-lanl-sites-in-pueblo-canyon/
During this week’s virtual public meeting, Joni Arends of CCNS, asked why the request comes at a time when the hazardous waste permit renewal is already two years behind schedule. N3B reported that DOE had asked it to submit the request. Later, when pressed by Arends, it became clear that the request was made to meet an arbitrary contract performance measure resulting in a possible monetary bonus to N3B.
Unlike DOE, CCNS’s concern is for the Environment Department to issue LANL’s draft hazardous waste permit for public review and comment. Every ten years, the hazardous waste permit is up for renewal. The current permit was issued in December 2010. Since spring 2020, when LANL submitted its renewal application, the Environment Department has failed to issue a timely draft permit. https://www.env.nm.gov/hazardous-waste/lanl-permit/
The beauty of the permit renewal process is that it provides for enhanced public participation. The entire permit is open for public review and comment on all aspects of hazardous waste operations at key nuclear weapons facilities, including those associated with plutonium pits, or the triggers, for nuclear weapons. They are Technical Area 3 (the old Chemistry & Metallurgy Research Building); TA-50 (the Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility); TA-54 (Areas G (radioactive, hazardous & toxic waste disposal), H (buried classified shapes, photos, lithimun, etc.)) and L (liquid radioactive, hazardous and toxic liquids); TA-55 (Plutonium Facility); and TA-63 (the Transuranic Waste Facility).
The hazardous waste permit covers operations at only those five of the many LANL sites that handle, treat and store hazardous waste. For this reason, the public process is critical. Nevertheless, due to the lack of the necessary funding for staffing across the Environment Department, and the Hazardous Waste Bureau in particular, the draft LANL renewal permit is already two years late.
Similarly, the hazardous waste renewal permit for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant is already two years late. WIPP has submitted many permit modifications which review is limited to the proposed modifications. As a result, DOE’s expansion plans are not receiving the full required public examination as provided for in the permit renewal process. https://www.env.nm.gov/hazardous-waste/wipp/
CCNS views the N3B proposal to move the 19 sites within the LANL hazardous waste permit as a diversion from the Environment Department’s requirement to issue timely draft renewal permits. Scroll down the page – https://n3b-la.com/outreach/
CCNS will prepare sample public comments you can use to submit to the Environment Department asking that N3B’s request for the 19 sites be shelved until the draft renewal permit is released for public review and comment. Public comments are due by December 5, 2021.
Please give as generously as you are able to CCNS. We really need your financial support. We’re carrying a heavy load to push for the draft hazardous waste permits to be released by the NM Environment Department for public review and comment. Thank you for your continuing support!
Our colleague, Linda Pentz Gunter, the International Specialist at Beyond Nuclear, has written a brilliant piece, about the connections between nuclear power and nuclear weapons, which we post in its entirety.
HIDDEN AGENDA: The unspoken argument for more nuclear power
By Linda Pentz Gunter
“So here we are again at another COP (Conference of the Parties). Well, some of us are in Glasgow, Scotland at the COP itself, and some of us, this writer included, are sitting at a distance, trying to feel hopeful.
“But this is COP 26. That means there have already been 25 tries at dealing with the once impending and now upon us climate crisis. Twenty five rounds of “blah, blah, blah” as youth climate activist, Greta Thunberg, so aptly put it.
“So if some of us do not feel the blush of optimism on our cheeks, we can be forgiven. I mean, even the Queen of England has had enough of the all-talk-and-no-action of our world leaders, who have been, by and large, thoroughly useless. Even, this time, absent. Some of them have been worse than that.
“Not doing anything radical on climate at this stage is fundamentally a crime against humanity. And everything else living on Earth. It should be grounds for an appearance at the International Criminal Court. In the dock.
PHOTO: Will the COP26 be more “blah, blah, blah” on climate change, as Greta Thunberg (pictured at a pre-COP26 event) has warned against? And will nuclear power slither under the door as a bogus climate solution? (Photo: MAURO UJETTO/Shutterstock)
“But what are the world’s greatest greenhouse gas emitters consumed with right now? Upgrading and expanding their nuclear weapons arsenals. Another crime against humanity. It’s as if they haven’t even noticed that our planet is already going quite rapidly to hell in a handbasket. They’d just like to hasten things along a bit by inflicting a nuclear armageddon on us as well.
“Not that the two things are unconnected. The civilian nuclear power industry is desperately scrambling to find a way into the COP climate solutions. It has rebranded itself as ‘zero-carbon,’ which is a lie. And this lie goes unchallenged by our willing politicians who blithely repeat it. Are they really that lazy and stupid? Possibly not. Read on.
“Nuclear power isn’t a climate solution of course. It can make no plausible financial case, compared with renewables and energy efficiency, nor can it deliver nearly enough electricity in time to stay the inexorable onrush of climate catastrophe. It is too slow, too expensive, too dangerous, hasn’t solved its lethal waste problem and presents a potentially disastrous security and proliferation risk.
“Nuclear power is so slow and expensive that it doesn’t even matter whether or not it is ‘low-carbon’ (let alone ‘zero-carbon’). As the scientist, Amory Lovins, says, ‘Being carbon-free does not establish climate-effectiveness.’ If an energy source is too slow and too costly, it will ‘reduce and retard achievable climate protection’ no matter how ‘low-carbon’ it is. https://rmi.org/people/amory-lovins/
“This leaves only one possible rationale for the political obsession with keeping the nuclear power industry alive: its indispensability to the nuclear weapons sector.
“New, small, fast reactors will make plutonium, essential to the nuclear weapons industry as Henry Sokolski and Victor Gilinsky of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center continue to point out. https://npolicy.org/ Some of these so-called micro-reactors would be used to power the military battlefield. The Tennessee Valley Authority is already using two of its civilian nuclear reactors to produce tritium, another key ‘ingredient’ for nuclear weapons and a dangerous blurring of the military and civil nuclear lines.
PHOTO: ”Tennessee Valley Authority is already using its two Watts Bar civilian reactors to produce tritium for the nuclear weapons sector, an ominous blurring of the civil-military line. (Photo: TVA Web team)
“Keeping existing reactors going, and building new ones, maintains the lifeline of personnel and know-how needed by the nuclear weapons sector. Dire warnings are being sounded in the halls of power about the threat to national security should the civil nuclear sector fade away.
“But in a way it’s just glaringly obvious. Although, just to be clear, this more-than-a-theory excuse for perpetuating nuclear power doesn’t make it a good or valid reason. It’s as bogus as all the other lame justifications, and just as damaging. We don’t need nuclear power to prop up the nuclear weapons sector, because the very last thing we need right now, ever and at all, is any — let alone more — nuclear weapons. Using one crime against humanity (deploying nuclear power ostensibly to mitigate climate change, only to worsen it) in the name of another (the ‘need’ for nuclear weapons) is doubly heinous.
“Consequently, as we in the anti-nuclear movement wrack our brains to understand why our perfectly empirical and compelling arguments against using nuclear power for climate fall perpetually on deaf ears, we are maybe missing the fact that the nuclear-is-essential-for-climate arguments we hear are just one big smokescreen.
“At least, let’s hope so. Because the alternative means that our politicians really are that lazy and stupid, and also gullible, or in the pockets of the big polluters, whether nuclear or fossil fuel, or possibly all of the above. And if that’s the case, we must brace ourselves for more ‘blah, blah, blah’ at COP 26 and a truly horrible outlook for present and future generations.
“We are grateful, therefore, to our colleagues attending COP 26, who will be promoting— rather than tilting at —windmills as they make their case, one more time, that nuclear power has no place in, and in fact hinders, climate solutions.
“And I hope they will also point out that expensive and obsolete nuclear power should never be promoted — under the false guise of a climate solution — as an excuse to perpetuate the nuclear weapons industry.” https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2021/10/31/hidden-agenda/
We are Podcasting!
Government agencies have scheduled a number of IMPORTANT meetings in the next week. As a result, the Did You Know? is longer than usual.
Thank you for your contributions to CCNS!!! We are grateful for your continuing support so we can produce the weekly CCNS News Update. Since 1988, CCNS has produced the Update to keep you informed about the latest nuclear news and distribute it through social media. We could use your financial support right now to continue this service.
Tues. Nov. 9th from 3:30 to 5 pm – LANL will host a virtual public meeting to discuss the permit modification request to Remove 19 Corrective-Action Complete Sites in the Pueblo Canyon Aggregate Area (including old septic tanks in the town site and contaminated areas in Acid Canyon). The comment period ends Dec. 5, 2021. For more information, go to https://n3b-la.com/outreach/ or contact Lee Bishop, DOE-EM, at (505) 257-7902.
Tues. Nov. 9th from 4:30 – 5:30 pm – DOE/Triad/N3B/LANL will host Public Training for the Electronic Public Reading Room. For questions or to register, please email envoutreach@lanl.gov or call 505 551-4514.
Fri. Nov. 12th at 9 am – live (State Capitol, Senate Chambers) and virtual meeting – NM Legislature Interim Radioactive and Hazardous Materials Committee meeting. Presentations include: Environment Department Cleanup Actions; LANL Operations & Updates; LANL Legacy Waste Cleanup; Weapons Grade Plutonium Transportation Concerns, Community Concerns about Resumption of Plutonium Pit Production at LANL; Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board; Northern NM Citizens’ Advisory Board. Public comment opportunities are available. For more information, see agenda at https://nmlegis.gov/Committee/Interim_Committee?CommitteeCode=RHMC
Santa Claus came early this year and granted the Department of Energy what it wanted – approval to excavate and use new Shaft No. 5 and its associated drifts in the WIPP underground.
Late on Wednesday afternoon, the New Mexico Environment Department Secretary James C. Kenney granted DOE and its contractor, Nuclear Waste Partnership, LLC, the latest approval they wanted to expand the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) and keep it open for decades, essentially forever. https://wipp.energy.gov/
The Secretary approved the excavation and operation of new Shaft No. 5 and its drifts, or corridors, all located west of the existing underground disposal site, 2,150 feet below the surface. Approval of the new shaft is a key step for doubling the size of the WIPP underground disposal area, implicitly allowing WIPP to stay open forever. NMED_Sec_WIPP_Shaft5_FinalOrder102721_rev
And who received coal in their stockings? The People of New Mexico. DOE has not made its plans public. Other agencies, including the National Academies of Science and Government Accountability Office (GAO), reviewed DOE’s plans in two reports released in 2020. Disposal of Surplus Plutonium in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant,https://www.nationalacademies.org/our-work/disposal-of-surplus-plutonium-in-the-waste-isolation-pilot-plant and Nuclear Waste Disposal: Better Planning Needed to Avoid Potential Disruptions at Waste Isolation Pilot Plant,https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-21-48
Using interviews and document reviews, GAO created a new conceptual map of the WIPP underground. The map reveals nine new waste disposal panels, each containing eight rooms. The new panels would be connected to the 30-foot in diameter new Shaft No. 5.
For decades, even before WIPP accepted its first shipment of plutonium-contaminated waste from nuclear weapons fabrication on March 26, 1999, DOE told the People of New Mexico that WIPP would operate for 25 years and then close. Accordingly, the WIPP Permit provides that the site would stop receiving waste in 2024 and begin an estimated 10-year period where the four existing shafts and underground drifts would be filled in and closed. https://www.env.nm.gov/hazardous-waste/wipp-permit-page/
During the May 2021 Environment Department’s public hearing about permitting the proposed new shaft, Deborah Reade and CCNS addressed the lack of translated information and the lack of proper public notification about the shaft, among other issues.
The demographics of Southeastern New Mexico required that key information be translated into Spanish, but most was not. Radio announcements in English and Spanish were made from radio stations that had no signal in the WIPP area. These defective notices and other problems mean that New Mexicans were denied meaningful involvement in the permitting process. 2021-8-16_ HWB 21-02 WIPP CCNS-Reade_CLOSING-ARGUMENT
Summarizing this situation, Deborah Reade said, “Spanish speakers had far less access to information about this permit than English speakers had. The Secretary could have denied the permit on civil rights grounds alone, but he did not do so.”
To get involved, please join the Stop Forever WIPP, una coalición dedicada a detener la expansión de WIPP, effort at https://stopforeverwipp.org/. There are three action items: (1) Sign the petition to NM Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham; (2) Send NM Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham a personalized email urging her to take action against the expansion of WIPP; and (3) donate to this effort. Thank you!
We are Podcasting!
Government agencies have scheduled a number of IMPORTANT meetings in the next two weeks. As a result, the Did You Know? is longer than usual.
Thank you for your contributions to CCNS!!!We are grateful for your continuing support so we can produce the weekly CCNS News Update. Since 1988, CCNS has produced the Update to keep you informed about the latest nuclear news and distribute it through social media. We could use your financial support right now to continue this service.
Tues. Nov. 2nd from 6:30 – 8:30 pm and Wed. Nov. 3rd from 10 am to noon – U.S. Bureau of Reclamation will host two live virtual meetings about the San Juan – Chama Return Flow Project. The City of Santa Fe and Santa Fe County are proposing to “fully consume” San Juan Chama Project (SJCP) waters. Currently “unconsumed” SJCP waters from the Paseo Real Water Reclamation Facility wastewater treatment plant (near 599 bypass and Airport Road) are used to water parks and are discharged to the Santa Fe River. The City and County are proposing to build a $20 million, 17-mile pipeline from Paseo Real to the Rio Grande near the Buckman Direct Diversion Project. Comments due by close of business on Nov. 19, 2021. https://www.santafenm.gov/san_juan_chama_return_flow_pipeline
Th. Nov. 4th at 1 pm MDT webinar The Past and Future of Armistice / Remembrance Day: A Global Webinar,by World Beyond War, and co-sponsored by RootsAction.org. https://worldbeyondwar.org/
Tues. Nov. 9th from 3:30 to 5 pm – LANL will host a virtual public meeting to discuss the permit modification request to Remove 19 Corrective-Action Complete Sites in the Pueblo Canyon Aggregate Area (including old septic tanks in the town site and contaminated areas in Acid Canyon). The comment period ends Dec. 5, 2021. For more information, go to https://n3b-la.com/outreach/ or contact Lee Bishop, DOE-EM, at (505) 257-7902.
Tues. Nov. 9th from 4:30 – 5:30 pm – DOE/Triad/N3B/LANL will host Public Training for the Electronic Public Reading Room. For questions or to register, please email envoutreach@lanl.gov or call 505 551-4514.
Due to on-going maintenance problems in the underground disposal facility, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) requested an extension of time from the New Mexico Environment Department to store waste in the Waste Handling Building. https://wipp.energy.gov/The request for a 45-day extension to store 13 shipments of plutonium- contaminated waste comes on the heels of on-going maintenance problems at WIPP. DOE 45-Day Ext of Time Storage Request to NMED 10-13-21 On October 14th, 2021, the Environment Department approved the extension to November 30th, 2021. 2021-10-14_HWB_WIPP_Approval_WHB_Extension_Request(Final) All waste shipments to WIPP had previously been stopped from August 25th until September 30th.
Maintenance problems include ventilation problems on the surface in the Waste Handling Building and managing the floors in the underground. The salt can heave and create uneven surfaces where waste is transported for disposal.
Other maintenance problems are so similar to those that caused the February 2014 salt truck fire in the underground, that one questions why preventive maintenance is not the priority. In 2014, oily rags were left on a hot motor and caught fire, resulting in evacuation of all workers from the underground. Less than a week later, one or more waste drums exploded and contaminated the underground. WIPP was closed down for almost three years at a cost of at least $2 billion.
On October 8th, 2021, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board reported a leak of nearly 100 gallons of hydraulic fluid from a bolter. https://www.dnfsb.gov/ As a preventive maintenance measure, the bolter is used to install long bolts into the ceilings to keep the salt from falling onto the waste containers. DNFSB WIPP Monthly Ending September 2021 10-8-21
The Board reported that the WIPP contractor knew about a small leak in the hydraulic lines as early as August 20th. Attempts to repair the leak were done with fittings that were not rated for the pressure in the hydraulic lines. The Board stated, Nuclear Waste Partnership, the WIPP contractor, “did not document the leak or the repair and did not tag the bolter as out of service,” and “[t]his event appears to be similar to issues with the maintenance of underground equipment documents in a letter the Board sent to the Department of Energy on September 24, 2018.” At that time three years ago, the Board wrote, “[t]hese problems could affect the performance and reliability of various safety systems.” DNFSB WIPP Monthly Ending September 2018 10-5-18
Joni Arends, of CCNS, said, “As early as November 2013, Nuclear Waste Partnership, LLC, began to physically expand the WIPP underground. The fire and explosion shutdown that work. It remains evident that NWP is more interested in doubling the size of the WIPP underground and keeping it open forever than doing preventive maintenance.”
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to CCNS!!! We are grateful for your continuing support so we can produce the weekly CCNS News Update. Since 1988, CCNS has produced the Update to keep you informed about the latest nuclear news and distribute it through social media. We could use your financial support right now to continue this work.
Th. Nov. 4th at 1 pm MDT webinar The Past and Future of Armistice / Remembrance Day: A Global Webinar,by World Beyond War, and co-sponsored by RootsAction.org.
Tues. Nov. 9th from 4:30 – 5:30 pm – DOE/Triad/N3B/LANL will host Public Training for the Electronic Public Reading Room. For questions or to register, please email envoutreach@lanl.gov or call 505 551-4514.
Join me today from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Nancy Rodriguez Community Center
Please join Santa Fe County Commissioner Anna Hansen (D-2), Santa Fe County Fire Chief Jackie L. Lindsey, NM State Representative Tara Lujan (D-48), and Cynthia Weehler at this town hall and hear about the Department of Energy’s proposal to transport plutonium along NM 599 and the County’s emergency preparedness and response in the unlikely event of a toxic and radioactive waste incident.
Attendees will have an opportunity to express concerns and ask questions. View the agenda.
The event starts at 6 p.m. at the Nancy Rodriguez Community Center, 1 Prairie Dog Loop in Santa Fe. Please arrive at least 15 minutes early to complete a COVID-screening and wear your mask.Pre-registration is highly encouraged, please RSVP here.
If you prefer not to attend this event in person, you can view the live stream by clicking on the link below at 6 p.m. tomorrow. For more information, please contact Sara Smith, Constituent Services Liaison, at ssmith@santafecountynm.gov.
In response to community concerns about the proposed increased shipments of more dangerous forms of plutonium along New Mexico State Road 599, Santa Fe County District 2 Commissioner Anna Hansen will host a Nuclear Waste Emergency Response Town Hall on Tuesday, October 19th from 6 to 7:30 pm. Town Hall Nuclear Waste Flyer 10-19-21 The Department of Energy (DOE) has made elaborate plans to transport plutonium nuclear weapons triggers to Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) for processing. The triggers are currently stored at the Pantex facility, north of Amarillo, Texas. Questions and comments from the public are encouraged during the Town Hall. Town Hall Nuclear Waste Meeting Agenda 10-19-21
The proposed route is approximately 3,300 miles. Interstate 40 at Clines Corners would be the primary route to U.S. Route 285. The shipments would then head north to Interstate 25, past the Eldorado communities, before connecting with the 599 Bypass around Santa Fe. Much of the bypass is located within Commissioner Hansen’s district. From the bypass, the shipments would travel north on 285 to Pojoaque, then west on 502 to LANL. After processing, the shipments would follow the reverse route to Interstate 40 and east to the Savannah River Site in South Carolina for further processing. The shipments would once more head west to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), near Carlsbad, New Mexico. Up to 47 metric tons of what is called “surplus” plutonium could be shipped, processed and disposed at WIPP.
Santa Fe County Fire Chief Jackie L. Lindsey will give a presentation about Santa Fe County’s emergency preparedness and response in the unlikely event of a toxic and radioactive waste incident. https://www.santafecountynm.gov/fire/fire_chief_and_command_staff
The Town Hall will be held at the Nancy Rodriguez Community Center, at One Prairie Dog Loop, in Santa Fe, which is off County Road 62 between the Agua Fria Fire Station and La Familia Medical Center.
Attendees are asked to arrive 15 minutes early to complete a COVID-screening. Masks will be required.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to CCNS!!! We are grateful for your continuing support so we can produce the weekly CCNS News Update. Since 1988, CCNS has produced the Update to keep you informed about the latest nuclear news and distribute it through social media.
If you missed WIPP’s 47-minute Oct. 12th virtual public meeting about changing the VOC levels in Panel 8,thanks to the work of Nick Maxwell, you can view DOE’s technically challenging meeting and the chat on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxUDBBuceC0
Fri. Oct. 15, 1990 – 31 years ago – President H.W. Bush signed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act.It did not include the New Mexico Downwinders and the Post’71 Uranium Workers. Get involved! Contact your congressional members to support the proposed amendments to RECA to include Post’71 Uranium Workers and New Mexico Downwinders – Senate Bill 2798 and House Bill 5338.
Th. Oct. 21st at 6 pm – Kirtland AFB virtual public meeting about groundwater contamination and proposed changes to the NM Environment Department hazardous waste permit. https://www.kirtland.af.mil/Home/Environment/
For the first time in three years, the New Mexico Governor’s WIPP Task Force met October 6th to discuss possible negotiations with the federal government about radioactive waste disposal facilities in New Mexico, such as the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. The federal Department of Energy (DOE) owns the WIPP, a deep geologic repository for nuclear weapons wastes located 26 miles east of Carlsbad.
Forty years ago when Governor Bruce King and DOE Secretary James Edward signed the Consultation and Cooperation Agreement, or the “C and C,” the Task Force was established to ensure that DOE lives up to its part of the Agreement. Consultation and Cooperation Agreement as of August 1988cut
The Task Force includes cabinet secretaries from a wide range of state departments, including Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources; Health; Environment; Public Safety; Transportation; and State Fire Marshall. These departments provide staff to a “WIPP Working Group,” under Eletha Trujillo, who summarized the recent work of the WIPP Transportation Safety Program. https://www.emnrd.nm.gov/wipp-transportation-safety-program/the-radioactive-waste-consultation-task-force/
In public comments, Santa Fe County Commissioner Anna Hansen thanked the Task Force for holding the meeting. She spoke to the concerns of her constituents in District 2, which includes shipment of more dangerous forms of plutonium to and from Los Alamos National Laboratory on the New Mexico 599 Bypass around Santa Fe. Since DOE’s proposed expansion includes these shipments, many of her constituents are concerned about emergency preparedness. Commissioner Hansen comment RWCTF 10-6-21[1]https://www.santafecountynm.gov/county_commissioners/anna_hansen
Cindy Weehler, co-chair of 285-ALL, which monitors community issues along Highway 285 south of I-25, said that the public is in the dark about DOE’s plans to double the size of WIPP and transport of more dangerous forms of plutonium.
Don Hancock and former Environment Department Secretary Judith Espinosa, representatives of Southwest Research and Information Center, urged the Task Force to use the C and C Agreement to discuss with DOE the impact of an expanded WIPP on the public health, safety and well being of New Mexicans. SRIC Task Force letter 100421http://www.sric.org/
Scott Kovac, of Nuclear Watch New Mexico, spoke about a less well-known issue: Fifty waste drums, from the same waste stream that exploded in the WIPP underground on February 14, 2014 remain at the Waste Control Specialists site on the Texas-New Mexico border, five miles east of Eunice. That site does not have the capabilities to remediate those drums and they may be stranded there. DOE is planning to bring new waste streams to WIPP, including tons of “surplus” plutonium from the Savannah River Site. https://nukewatch.org/
John Wilkes, Vice President of the Albuquerque chapter of the Veterans for Peace, urged the Task Force to ensure that WIPP must close in 2024. If not, then only plutonium-contaminated waste from LANL and Sandia National Laboratory should be allowed to be disposed at WIPP. https://vfp-abq.com/
Other states have legal agreements with DOE to reserve space at WIPP for their wastes. New Mexico has those rights, but has not flexed those rights. Hancock encouraged the Task Force to look at that issue as well.
Janet Greenwald, of Citizens for Alternatives to Radioactive Dumping (CARD), expressed her disappointment at the recent public hearings about whether the New Mexico Environment Department should approve DOE’s elaborate expansion plans. She was shocked that no testimony was allowed regarding the unacknowledged expansion. She said, “The suppression of speech was almost unbearable.”
The Task Force may invite DOE to provide testimony at its next meeting. Joni Arends, of CCNS, encourages it to also invite the NAS, GAO and the independent Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) https://www.dnfsb.gov/ to provide testimony at that meeting to enhance the testimony of the DOE. http://nuclearactive.org/
We are Podcasting!
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to CCNS!!! We are grateful for your continuing support to produce the weekly CCNS News Update – which we have been producing for 33 years to keep you informed about the latest nuclear news and distribute it around the world.
Fri. Oct. 15th – President G.H.W. Bush signed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. It did not include the New Mexico Downwinders and the Post’71 Uranium Workers. Get involved! Contact your congressional members to support the proposed amendments to RECA to include Post’71 Uranium Workers and New Mexico Downwinders – Senate Bill 2798 and House Bill 5338.
Tues. Oct. 19th from 6 to 7:30 pm – Santa Fe County Nuclear Waste Emergency Response Town Hall at the Nancy Rodriguez Community Center, One Prairie Dog Loop in Santa Fe. For more information, please contact Santa Fe County Commissioner Anna Hansen at ahansen@santafecountynm.gov
At what point will the New Mexico Environment Department acknowledge the Department of Energy’s proposals for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) for what they are – EXPANSION of the underground geologic repository for national defense related radioactive and hazardous waste?
The Stop Forever WIPP Coalition, of which CCNS is a member, formed to educate and encourage public involvement in DOE’s proposed expansion plans. The Coalition envisions a future of fairness and safety where New Mexicans are informed and involved in protecting public health and the environment. You are invited to join the efforts to stop the expansion of the nuclear waste dump site in New Mexico.
One step you can take right now is to submit a public comment to the Environment Department about DOE’s proposal to mine three new access drifts to the west of the existing disposal site and construct and use two waste disposal Panels 11 and 12. https://www.env.nm.gov/hazardous-waste/wipp/ , scroll down to the August 3, 2021 post.
DOE plans to begin mining October, after the start of the federal Fiscal Year 2022. A one-click public comment letter is available at https://stopforeverwipp.org/ and a word version is available at http://nuclearactive.org/ .
The public comment letter also requests that the Environment Department proceed with the WIPP Permit Renewal, which should consider all of the proposed expansions at one time. Many people believe that the Permit Renewal, which has been delayed for 18 months, should proceed before any further permit modifications are considered. https://www.env.nm.gov/hazardous-waste/wipp/, scroll down to Vpost.
In total, DOE plans five “West Wing” access drifts, each parallel to one another and approximately 2,400 feet long. From the southern-most drift, the proposed Panels 11 and 12 are planned to be constructed directly to the south of the proposed Shaft No. 5, which is under permitting consideration by the Environment Department.
The Environment Department can prevent the mining of three of the access drifts and Panels 11 and 12 until such time as there is a final decision on the permit modification, which could take at least 18 months. Due to the significant public interest in DOE’s expansion plans, a public hearing would be held.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to CCNS!!! We are grateful for your continuing support to produce the CCNS News Update and distribute it around the world.
Wed., Sept. 29th from 5:30 to 7:30 pmvirtual LANL Cleanup Contractor, N3B, Cleanup Forum. For meeting information including login details, visit www.n3b-la.com/outreach.
Sat. October 2nd from 9 am to 1 pm – Join the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium (TBDC) at its 8th Annual Trinity Site Peaceful Demonstration at the Stallion Gate Entrance to the Trinity Site, east of San Antonio, NM, off Hwy. 380. Please bring your own water, snacks, sunscreen, chair, hat, posters, etc. Portable facilities will be available on-site. For more information, please visit: https://www.trinitydownwinders.com/
The National Park Service (NPS) and Federal Aviation Administration have prepared a draft Air Tour Management Plan (ATMP) to define “acceptable” levels of commercial air tours over Bandelier National Monument — ancestral Tewa land. Under the draft ATMP, 101 annual commercial air tours would be authorized. You can read more about the proposal and the process here.
Commercial air tours have already been happening over Bandelier since 2003 (up to 126 flights a year at 800–1000 ft above the ground), so the ATMP draft is not a proposal to ‘allow’ these flights to happen but to regulate frequency, duration, altitude, and routes. Therefore, we are not asking you to oppose the ATMP as it’s a step in the right direction to address the situation.
CALL TO ACTION
We are calling for this inclusion in the plan: restricting any commercial/for-profit flights over this area, as this is ancestral Tewa land. (We recognize that there may be times when search-and-rescue and emergency flights may be necessary.) The airway frequency of these planes has a dire impact on elk, deer, turkey, and other beings who live on this land. From an environmental standpoint, these unnecessary flights are just that — unnecessary — and contribute to environmental violence. These “pleasure” tours are a violation of rights to clean air and sacred space, which extends above and below. We Tewa have never left.
We are calling for tribal voices to be centered in every part of this process, and for the NPS to recognize that Bandelier is not only an historical site but a current site of great cultural importance to Indigenous people.
We ask you to stand with us and advocate against commercial air tours over Bandelier, and help us to amplify the above points.
From now until October 3, the NPS is accepting comments from the public.
You may submit your written comments via postal mail to the following address, or use this link to submit a comment through the NPS website. Please note the NPS is not accepting comments via email.
A deadline of July 10th, 2022 is looming for continuing the federal Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) and associated programs. In New Mexico, the Trinity Downwinders and Post ’71 Uranium Workers have been working for decades to ensure RECA continues and will include them in the programs.
RECA was signed into law on October 15th, 1990 by President George H. W. Bush, but did not include the Trinity Downwinders and Post ’71 Uranium Workers.
RECA covers Downwinders in certain counties located downwind of the Nevada Test Site in Arizona, Nevada, and Utah. Between 1945 and 1962, the U.S. conducted nearly 200 atmospheric nuclear weapons tests. RECA also covers Onsite Participants at the tests at the Nevada Test Site, the Pacific Test Sites, the South Atlantic Site and the Trinity Test Site in New Mexico. https://www.justice.gov/civil/common/reca
The new bills expand Downwinder coverage to then-residents of Colorado, Idaho, Montana, and New Mexico.
At present, RECA covers uranium miners, millers and ore transporters, but not those who drilled into the rock to obtain core samples. The core drillers are included in the new bills.
Since 1990, the RECA program has provided partial restitution to over 38,000 people in the amount of nearly $2.5 billion dollars to those eligible to receive compensation and who submitted successful claims. https://www.justice.gov/civil/common/reca, see Awards to Date near the bottom of the page.
Senator Lujan questions why RECA covers people in certain counties, but not “the community where the first nuclear bomb was tested on American soil. There’s not been a good answer given to me nor to the [D]ownwinders in New Mexico. There’s no question of the exposure that resulted from the Trinity test.”
Senator Lujan said, “For over a decade, I’ve been fighting alongside impacted communities to extend and expand RECA. This is about justice and doing what’s right, and there’s no time to waste.”
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Background: This virtual event will feature discussions on the Environmental Management mission at LANL, recent progress, and future cleanup priorities.
The community discussion/Q&A that will follow a short presentation will provide one of many opportunities for public input into legacy cleanup activities and upcoming decisions.
In a rare bi-partisan effort this month, the Texas state legislature passed a nearly unanimous bill prohibiting the future storage or disposal of high-level radioactive waste. After the Texas Senate voted unanimously and the House passed the bill (House Bill No. 7) by a vote of 119-3, Governor Greg Abbott signed it on Thursday, September 9th. It became law that day and prohibits the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) from issuing related water and construction permits. https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=872&Bill=HB7
However, on Monday, September 13th, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licensed the construction and operation of a Consolidated Interim Storage Facility for high-level radioactive waste in Andrews County, Texas. The license was issued to Interim Storage Partners, LLC (ISP), which includes Waste Control Specialists, LLC, and their partner, Orano, to expand its existing facility located on the Texas – New Mexico border, five miles east of Eunice, New Mexico. https://interimstoragepartners.com/ and https://www.nrc.gov/waste/spent-fuel-storage/cis/waste-control-specialist.html
Interim Storage Partners proposes temporary storage of up to 40,000 metric tons of high-level radioactive nuclear power plant waste on concrete pads.
Fasken Oil and Ranch, Limited, of Midland, Texas, which is located in the Permian Basin, joined the federal case.
Tommy Taylor, the Fasken assistant general manager, said, “We think [the ISP operation] is a crazy idea. If there’s a release, it’s going to contaminate the air and be a hazard for all the oil field workers and surface water in the area.”
The opponents have argued in separate cases that both the proposed ISP and Holtec plans violate federal law.
Karen Hadden, with the Austin-based SEED Coalition, stated, “We’ll keep fighting, continuing our legal challenges and community organizing. The NRC has licensed other facilities that never got built, including two nuclear reactors planned for the South Texas Project site and the Private Fuel Storage facility in Utah for storage of high-level radioactive waste.”
Rose Gardner, of Alliance for Environmental Strategies, a declarant in the federal court challenges, and a resident of Eunice, New Mexico, stated, “I am thankful that the Texas Legislature voted to stop this dangerous nuclear waste from coming to their state. I live less than five miles from the site, yet my community in New Mexico has no vote and no choice, and gave no consent for nuclear waste to be stored at the facility. I have long been concerned about [Interim Storage Partners] and its voracious appetite for bringing more and more nuclear waste to my area, claiming it now needs a license for high-level radioactive waste because the waste disposal business wasn’t making enough money. I hope my concerns will be heard by a higher court than the NRC.” https://www.facebook.com/Alliance-for-Environmental-Strategies-1959311804080514/
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Mon., Sept. 20 at 9 am – In-person [subject to change] NM Interim Legislative Radioactive & Hazardous Materials Committee meeting at Student Services & Technology Center 200, UNM-Gallup, 705 Gurley Avenue, Gallup, NM. The first panel discussion will be about The Legacy of Uranium Mining, Community Impacts, Cleanup and Challenges. The second panel discussion will be about Compensation for Downwinders and Uranium Mine Workers. A 30-minute public comment period will begin at approximately 12:15 pm. There will be a third panel after lunch updating the Committee on the Gold King Mine Spill and Restoration Project Program. The final session will be a report from the State Emergency Response Commission. For more information: https://nmlegis.gov/Committee/Interim_Committee?CommitteeCode=RHMC
It is always interesting to learn how the Department of Energy and its contractors prioritize their work at Los Alamos National Laboratory. This week, the public learned that DOE asked the LANL cleanup contractor, N3B, to request that the New Mexico Environment Department move 19 hazardous waste sites from one part of the hazardous waste permit to another. https://n3b-la.com/n3b-los-alamos-hosts-public-meeting-on-cleanup-status-of-19-historical-lanl-sites-in-pueblo-canyon/
During this week’s virtual public meeting, Joni Arends of CCNS, asked why the request comes at a time when the hazardous waste permit renewal is already two years behind schedule. N3B reported that DOE had asked it to submit the request. Later, when pressed by Arends, it became clear that the request was made to meet an arbitrary contract performance measure resulting in a possible monetary bonus to N3B.
