CCNS NEWS UPDATE

Runs 12/11/15 through 12/18/15

(THEME UP AND UNDER) This is the CCNS News Update, an overview of the latest nuclear safety issues, brought to you every week by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety. Here is this week’s top headline:

• Former Defense Chief, NonProliferation Experts Warn: Stop the New Nuclear Capable Long Range Stand Off Weapon

Two former Defense Department leaders, William J. Perry and Andy Weber, recently wrote a piece in the Washington Post requesting that President Obama stop the development of the proposed long range stand off (LRSO) nuclear capable weapon. The Pentagon requested that this weapon be developed to replace an existing air-launched cruise missile.

Perry and Weber wrote that cruise missiles are “inherently destabilizing” because “they can be launched without warning and come in both nuclear and conventional variants.” Cruise missiles increase the risk of accident nuclear war. Canceling this dangerous weapon could be a significant first step towards a worldwide ban on all cruise missiles.

The Air Force plans to purchase over 1,000 of the LRSOs. It currently has a stockpile of about 575 nuclear capable air-launched cruise missiles. The development of the LRSO would increase U.S. nuclear air-launched cruise missile capacity by nearly 200 percent.

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, based in the San Francisco Bay Area, has been charged with refurbishing the nuclear explosive package and developing detonators for the new weapon. Sandia Laboratory, also in Livermore, is responsible for the construction of some nonnuclear parts and for systems integration. Sandia says this program “will develop the next generation of weapon scientists and engineers and give them hands on experience in a system development and integration program.”

The nuclear warhead, called the W80-4, will be a modified version of an older warhead, the W80. The W80-4 budget for fiscal year 2015 is $9 million. The 2016 request is $195 million. Future funding requests are expected to increase to $312 million in 2017 and $407 million in 2018.

The Federation of American Scientists estimates the full development of this nuclear cruise missile, including the W80-4 warhead, to be as high as $20 billion.

It is still possible that Congress will pass a budget, but, at least for now, the W80-4 warhead development has been slowed down.

Under the New START treaty, which reduces Russian and U.S. forward deployed strategic nuclear arsenal to 1,550 nuclear warheads by 2018, each bomber plane counts as only one warhead, despite the fact that bombers can carry multiple nuclear weapons.

Marylia Kelley, Executive Director of Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive Environment, based in Livermore, said, “Now is the critical time when the President is still finalizing his Fiscal Year 2017 budget. Please call your senators and ask them to send a letter directly to the President asking him to cancel any funding request for a Long Range Stand Off warhead and cruise missile. Then call Senator Dianne Feinstein, the Ranking Member on the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, with the same message.”

CCNS NEWS UPDATE

Runs 11/6/15 through 11/13/15

(THEME UP AND UNDER)  This is the CCNS News Update, an overview of the latest nuclear safety issues, brought to you every week by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety.  Here is this week’s top headline:

• DOE Extends Public Comment Period for LANL Chromium Plume to Friday, November 13^th and NMED Rolls Out Consent Order Agreement on Thursday, November 12^th and Friday, November 13^th

The Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced its second extension of the public comment period for a draft environmental assessment about the migrating ground water plume containing dangerous levels of hexavalent chromium and perchlorate beneath Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) towards Pueblo de San Ildefonso and Santa Fe’s drinking water wells and the Buckman Direct Diversion Project until Friday, November 13^th.

DOE granted the second extension of time because on Friday, October 30^th the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) released its draft ground water discharge permit for re-injection of the treated chromium contaminated ground water into the regional drinking water aquifer. Public comments are due the day after Thanksgiving, or on Friday, November 27^th.   d DP-1835 Reinjection 10-29-15

In addition, on Thursday, November 5^th, DOE released its floodplain assessment for land application of treated ground waters for public comment, which are due on Friday, November 20^th.  Cr Project-Floodplain Notice 11-4-15

CCNS argued that in order for the public to provide informed comments about the draft environmental assessment, it needs to be able to review all of the pieces of the growing regulatory puzzle for the chromium project and asked for more time.

Joni Arends, of CCNS, said, “Even with the additional time, it is not adequate for the public to provide informed comments.  DOE is in a hurry to get the necessary paperwork done before the ground freezes.  Once it freezes, the outdoor work must stop.”

She added, “DOE should stop the environmental assessment.  With the multitude of state permits required for the proposed action, including a permit from the State Engineer which has not been applied for, DOE should prepare an environmental impact statement so that the public can understand the cumulative impacts of the proposal as required by the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA.”

The chromium public comment period now ends on Friday, November 13, 2015.  Comments may be submitted to DOE by email at CRProjectEA@em.doe.gov

In the meantime, the New Mexico Environment Department, DOE and LANL will be making presentations about a “LANL Consent Order Agreement” on Thursday, November 12^th and Friday, November 13^th at day-time meetings in the Espanola Valley.

The November 12^th meeting of the Northern New Mexico Citizens’ Advisory Board will have presentations about the agreement from 1 pm to 4:30 pm at the Cities of Gold Conference Center in Pojoaque.  New website at:  http://energy.gov/em/nnmcab/northern-new-mexico-citizens-advisory-board

The November 13^th meeting of the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities will have the parties present from 9 to 11 am at the Hernandez Community Center, 19418 US Highway 84/285, Hernandez, NM, located north of Espanola.  http://regionalcoalition.org

This has been the CCNS News Update.  For more information and a sample chromium public comment letter, please visit nuclearactive.org and our Facebook page.

CCNS NEWS UPDATE

Runs 10/9/15 through 10/16/15

(THEME UP AND UNDER) This is the CCNS News Update, an overview of the latest nuclear safety issues, brought to you every week by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety. Here is this week’s top headline:

• DOE Addresses LANL Chromium Plume in Haphazard Manner

The Department of Energy (DOE) and its management contactor, Los Alamos National Security, LLC, continue to address the migrating chromium ground water plume beneath Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in a hit or miss manner. In late September, DOE released an inadequate draft environmental assessment for the chromium plume for public review and comment. http://energy.gov/nepa/ea-2005-chromium-plume-control-interim-measure-and-plume-center-characterization-los-alamos  Public comments are currently due on Friday, October 23, 2015.  Sample public comments – sample Cr-VI EA public comments 10-10-15

DOE is proposing a pump and treat system, meaning they would pump approximately 700 acre feet a year, or 230 million gallons, of ground water from the regional aquifer to the surface for treatment, a distance of approximately 1,000 feet. After treatment, the water would be applied to the land surface by trucks or irrigation systems, re-injected into the drinking water aquifer, or evaporated.

DOE has not applied for an evaporation permit from the New Mexico Environment Department. It has applied to the Environment Department for a re-injection permit and a draft permit may be released by the end of October 2015. DOE applied, and received a permit from the Environment Department for land application of 350,000 gallons per day. In August the Communities for Clean Water appealed that permit to the New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission and asked for a stay of activities pending a decision. It has not yet been heard.

The draft cleanup proposal is for an “interim measure,” meaning that the plan falls between the discovery of the plume in 2004, and when a cleanup remedy is selected. Information and data obtained during the interim measure, which will be in effect for a minimum of eight years, will be used to decide on the final remedy in the 2023 timeframe.

Further, not all of the documents referenced in the draft assessment are available to the public, including key technical reports about geology, seismic activity, and DOE water rights. For all these reasons, CCNS is requesting a 90-day extension of the public comment period.

The plume measures one mile by one-half mile below Mortandad Canyon. The concentrations at the center of the plume are approximately 20 times the New Mexico standard of 50 parts per billion, or 1,000 parts per billion. Sampling results indicate that the plume is migrating at the plume edges.

The majority of the Los Alamos County drinking water wells are located in Mortandad Canyon, which is directly east of Santa Fe’s 13 deep drinking water wells and the Buckman Direct Diversion Project, which diverts Rio Grande water into the drinking water supply.

The 30-day public comment period ends on October 23, 2015. Comments may be submitted to DOE by email at CRProjectEA@em.doe.gov

This has been the CCNS News Update. For more information and a sample public comment letter sample Cr-VI EA public comments 10-10-15, please visit http://www.nuclearactive.org and our Facebook page

CCNS NEWS UPDATE

Ran 8/14/15 through 8/21/15

In 2002, Deborah Reade, then Research Director for Citizens for Alternatives to Radioactive Dumping (CARD), filed a 27-page complaint with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Civil Rights against the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED). The complaint alleged a pattern of discrimination against Spanish-speaking residents exhibited during the permitting process for Triassic Park, a hazardous waste facility in southeastern New Mexico.

The facility site, located between Roswell and Tatum in Chaves County, was permitted by the Environment Department and could have received hazardous waste from across the U.S. and from foreign countries. Though the facility has not been built, the owners of Triassic Park have applied to renew their permit, which is currently under review.

EPA regulations require acknowledgement of receipt of the complaint within five days. EPA accepted the CARD complaint in 2005, nearly 1,100 days later.

EPA is required to determine if an investigation is needed within 20 days, and if so, it must be completed in 180 days. Twelve years after the initial complaint was filed, EPA contacted Reade for additional information. EPA has yet to complete their investigation.

The 2002 complaint alleged the Department discriminated against Chaves County residents on the basis of race, color and national origin in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. During the Triassic Park permitting process, CARD alleged that the Department did not examine “possible disparate impacts on the basis of race and ethnicity” and conducted the administrative process “in a manner hostile to Spanish-speaking residents.”

Chaves County residents are mostly Hispanic New Mexicans and New Mexicans of Mexican origin; a high percentage live in poverty; and infant mortality rates are high. The complaint also alleged the Department “obstructed and excluded members of the public – particularly the Spanish-speaking public – from the permitting process” because they did not provide information in Spanish and harassed and intimidated the public.

In mid-July, CARD, along with four other non-governmental organizations based in California, Alabama and Michigan, filed suit in the U.S. District Court in Northern California against EPA for relief to challenge the unreasonable delay of [EPA] to enforce the Civil Rights Act. Between 1994 and 2003, the plaintiffs each filed a civil rights compliant with EPA. Between 1995 and 2005, EPA accepted their complaints for investigation, but EPA “utterly failed to meet” their regulatory deadlines. The plaintiffs asked the Court to compel EPA to act.

The groups are CAlifornians for Renewable Energy, Ashurst/Bar Smith Community Organization, Maurice and Jane Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice, Sierra Club and individual, Michael Boyd.

After an in-depth investigation of the EPA Office of Civil Rights, the Center for Public Integrity reported on the excessive delays, along with a close-up report on Chaves County. http://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/thirteen-years-counting-anatomy-epa-civil-rights-investigation-n405201

For more information, please visit the Center for Public Integrity’s website.

CCNS NEWS UPDATE

Runs 8/7/15 through 8/14/15

(THEME UP AND UNDER) This is the CCNS News Update, an overview of the latest nuclear safety issues, brought to you every week by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety. Here is this week’s top headline:

• Livestreaming of August 9^th Peace and Disarmament Vigil in Los Alamos in Remembrance of 1945 U.S. Bombing of Nagasaki

Pace e Bene will livestream the Sunday, August 9^th peace and disarmament vigil in Los Alamos in remembrance of the 70^th anniversary of the U.S. bombing of Nagasaki, Japan at http://livestream.com/streamingnm/cnnc beginning at 11 am Mountain Standard Time. Sunday’s vigil is the last of Pace e Bene’s four days of events in Northern New Mexico, including two vigils in Los Alamos and a conference in Santa Fe. All events are available for viewing at paceebene.org.

The events commemorate the 70^th anniversary of the U.S. dropping atomic bombs Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan on August 6^th and August 9^th, 1945, respectively.

The Franciscan Friars of California founded Pace e Bene in 1989, which is an independent, nondenominational nonprofit organization. Its name is derived from St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi who used the phrase as a form of greeting. Translated from the Italian, it means, “Peace and all good.” It is in this spirit that Pace e Bene works to mainstream peacemaking that will empower people from all walks of life to prayerfully and relentlessly engage in nonviolent efforts for the well-being of all.

On Sunday, August 9^th, beginning at 11 am there will be a sackcloth and ashes ceremony and the presentation of the 2015 U.S. Peace Memorial Award at Ashley Pond in Los Alamos.

At 9:30 am, three buses will leave from the Hilton Hotel in Santa Fe, destined for Los Alamos. The Albuquerque Peace and Justice Center is organizing a caravan from Albuquerque to Santa Fe on Sunday morning. They will be leaving the Center at 202 Harvard Southeast at 8:15 am sharp to arrive in Santa Fe by 9:15 am to meet up with buses at the Hilton Hotel. Please visit abqpeaceandjustice.org for more information. They invite you, your family and friends to “come together for a day to call for an end to nuclear weapons.”

At 11 am the Nagasaki commemoration will begin in Los Alamos. After receiving instructions and a blessing from Father John Dear, participants will carry sackcloths, or burlaps sacks, and ashes and walk mindfully from Ashley Pond on Trinity Drive towards Los Alamos National Laboratory, the birthplace of the bomb. Around 11:30 am, participants will pour ashes on the ground, put on sackcloths and sit in silence for 30 minutes. Participants will walk back to Ashley Pond for reflection, music, speakers and the presentation of the U.S. Peace Memorial Foundation’s annual peace prize.

The Foundation works to establish a national monument to peacemakers to recognize those who have dedicated their lives to peace on the National Mall.

For more information, please visit paceebene.org

This has been the CCNS News Update. For more information, please visit nuclearactive.org and our Facebook page.

CCNS NEWS UPDATE

Runs 7/31/15 through 8/7/15

(THEME UP AND UNDER) This is the CCNS News Update, an overview of the latest nuclear safety issues, brought to you every week by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety. Here is this week’s top headline:

• Free Livestreaming of Campaign Nonviolence National Conference in Santa Fe and Peace and Disarmament Vigils in Los Alamos

Pace e Bene, the organizers of the sold-out Campaign Nonviolence National Conference in Santa Fe, is providing free livestreaming of the conference and the two peace and disarmament vigils in Los Alamos at http://livestream.com/streamingnm/cnnc. To commemorate the 70^th anniversary of the U.S. dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan on August 6^th and August ^9th, 1945, respectively, Pace e Bene is hosting four days of events.

Beginning on Thursday, August 6^th with a peace and disarmament vigil in Los Alamos to commemorate the 70^th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima, participants will gather at Ashley Pond at 2 pm. After receiving instructions and a blessing from Father John Dear, participants will carry sackcloths, or burlaps sacks, and ashes and walk mindfully on Trinity Drive towards Los Alamos National Laboratory. Around 2:30 pm, participants will pour ashes on the ground, put on sackcloths, and sit in silence for 30 minutes. Afterwards, participants will walk back to Ashley Pond for reflection, music and speakers.

On Friday, August 7^th, from 9 to 4 pm, a nonviolence training session will be held in the Hilton Hotel Ballroom in Santa Fe.

On Friday at 7 pm, the Campaign Nonviolence National Conference will begin with a keynote speech about mobilizing the nation for the times we’re in by Rev. Jim Lawson, a civil rights leader and one of Martin Luther King’s key strategists.

On Saturday, August 8^th, from 9 am to 9 pm, the conference will take place at the Hilton. Speakers include Erica Chenoweth, author of “Why Civil Resistance Works;” Ken Butigan and Kit Evans Ford will present about the Campaign Nonviolence National Week of Action starting on September 20^th; and Roshi Joan Halifax will lead a silent Zen sitting meditation. Panel discussions include working to end war, poverty and environmental destruction, building a new culture of peace and nonviolence, and Los Alamos nuclear weapons. Local panelists include Sister Joan Brown, Marian Naranjo, Beata Tsosie-Peña, Bud Ryan and Jay Coghlan.

On Sunday, August 9^th, beginning at 11 am, there will be a commemoration of the U.S. atomic bombing of Nagasaki and presentation of the 2015 U.S. Peace Memorial Award at Ashley Pond. Three buses will leave from the Hilton Hotel at 9:30 am. Another sackcloth and ashes ceremony will take place. After returning to Ashley Pond, a presentation of the U.S. Peace Memorial will occur. The Memorial honors the millions of thoughtful and committed Americans who have dedicated their lives to peace or taken a stand against war in general or a specific U.S. war.

For more information, please visit paceebene.org

This has been the CCNS News Update. For more information, please visit nuclearactive.org and our Facebook page.

TONIGHT, Tuesday, July 28th, on the PBS NewsHour there will be a story about the Trinity Downwinders. The program is broadcast live from 6:00 – 7:00pm Eastern time and can be seen on the NewsHour’s live stream at that time (pbs.org/newshour), and it will be available after that on the web site.

CCNS NEWS UPDATE

Runs 7/24/15 through 7/31/15

(THEME UP AND UNDER) This is the CCNS News Update, an overview of the latest nuclear safety issues, brought to you every week by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety. Here is this week’s top headline:

• Pace e Bene Hosting Campaign Nonviolence Conference in Santa Fe and Peace and Disarmament Vigils in Los Alamos August 6^th through 9^th

To commemorate the 70 years since the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan on August 6^th and August 9^th, respectively, Pace e Bene is hosting a four-day Campaign Nonviolence conference in Santa Fe from Thursday, August 6^th to Sunday, August 9^th and organizing two peace and disarmament vigils in Los Alamos on Thursday, August 6^th and Sunday, August 9^th.

The conference is sold out, but free livestreaming will be available at http://paceebene.org/.

The peace and disarmament vigils will take place in Los Alamos, the birthplace of the atomic bomb and home of Los Alamos National Laboratory, which continues to manufacture plutonium triggers for nuclear weapons. The vigils are free and open to the public.

On Thursday, August 6^th from 2 to 4 pm at Ashley Pond, the annual Sack Cloth and Ashes ceremony will take place. After gathering at Ashley Pond, participants will walk on Trinity Drive towards the entrance of the national laboratory carrying peace signs. They will stop and sit in symbolic sackcloth and ashes, the oldest form of political protest, for 30 minutes. They will then return to Ashley Pond for a rally calling for nuclear disarmament.

On Sunday, August 9^th from 11 am to 1 pm at Ashley Pond, the Nagasaki Day peace vigil will take place. There will be a procession through the Los Alamos townsite and a rally at Ashley Pond.

On Sunday, Veterans for Peace will provide round-trip bus transportation from the Hilton Hotel in Santa Fe to Los Alamos and back.  Buses will leave from in front of the Hilton by 9:30 am. Buses will leave Los Alamos around 1:30 pm and return to Santa Fe around 2:30 pm.

Founded in 1989 by the Franciscan Friars of California, Pace e Bene is an independent, nondenominational nonprofit organization. Its name is derived from St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi who used the phrase in their own time as a form of greeting. Translated from the Italian, it means, “Peace and all good.” It is also a blessing, a hope, and a way of acknowledging the sacredness of those whom they encountered, as in, “May you have the fullness of well-being; may you be secure and happy; may you not want; may your dignity be respected; may the goodness in your inmost being flourish; may the world in which we live know this deep peace.”

It is in this spirit that Pace e Bene works to mainstream peacemaking that will empower people from all walks of life to prayerfully and relentlessly engage in nonviolent efforts for the well-being of all.

This has been the CCNS News Update. For more information, please visit our website at nuclearactive.org and our Facebook page.

CCNS NEWS UPDATE
Runs 7/17/15 through 7/24/15

(THEME UP AND UNDER) This is the CCNS News Update, an overview of the latest nuclear safety issues, brought to you every week by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety. Here is this week’s top headline:

·      Commemoration of Trinity Atomic Bomb Test Will Be Held Saturday, July 18^th at the Tularosa Little League Field at 8 pm

In the early morning of July 16, 1945, the U.S. government dropped the first atomic bomb from a 100-foot metal structure in the south central desert of New Mexico, called Jornada del Muerto, or Journey of Death. In the massive explosion, the radiation and toxic materials rose an estimated 70,000 feet and began to fall back to earth in what many thought was snow.  The kids played in it, the cattle and vegetable gardens were covered in it, and later that night when it rained, the water cisterns were contaminated with radioactive and toxic particles.

The innocent people of the Tularosa Basin were not informed beforehand and were not evacuated after the test, even though the exposures were at least 10,000 times higher than the safe radiation levels of the time.  Cancer rates in the Tularosa Basin are four to eight times higher than the national average.  For more information, please see Chapter 10 “The Trinity Test” of the 2010 Los Alamos Historical Document Retrieval and Assessment Report at http://www.lahdra.org/pubs/Final%20LAHDRA%20Report%202010.pdf

To memorialize those who have died and to honor those who are living with or who have survived cancer, the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, in cooperation with the Village of Tularosa, will host the Sixth Annual Candlelight Vigil on Saturday, July 18^th from 8 to 10 pm in Tularosa, New Mexico, at the Tularosa Little League Field, on La Luz Avenue, west of the Tularosa High School. Everyone is invited to attend.

Luminarias will be available for a small donation beginning at 7:30 pm.   They will be lit in memory of those who have died and those living with or who have survived cancer and other radiation-related illnesses.

In 2005, the Consortium formed to ensure that those exposed to the Trinity test receive compensation under the federal Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA). The act first passed in 1990 to provide compensation and medical care to those exposed to above ground nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands and the Nevada Test Site.  For five years, New Mexico Senator Tom Udall has introduced amendments that would include the Trinity downwinders and certain uranium miners in New Mexico.

On July 1^st, Senator Udall attended a Consortium meeting in Tularosa at which eight survivors told their stories before an audience of 200. After hearing their passionate stories, Senator Udall renewed his commitment to ensure passage of the RECA amendments.

Tina Cordova, a co-founder of the Consortium, said, “Please join us at the Sixth Annual Candlelight Vigil in Tularosa. It will be a peaceful opportunity to reflect on all that we’ve lost and the work ahead of us to achieve justice.”

For more information and to volunteer, please contact Tina Cordova at 505-897-6787, or tcordova@queston.net.

This has been the CCNS News Update. For more information, please visit our website at http://www.nuclearactive.org and our Facebook page.

CCNS NEWS UPDATE

Runs 6/12/15 through 6/19/15

(THEME UP AND UNDER) This is the CCNS News Update, an overview of the latest nuclear safety issues, brought to you every week by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety. Here is this week’s top headline:

            EPA Recertification Public Meetings June 16 in Carlsbad and June 17 in Albuquerque

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is holding public meetings in Carlsbad and Albuquerque regarding the Department of Energy (DOE) recertification application to demonstrate that the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) will not leak radiation for 10,000 years. That application was submitted six weeks after the February 14, 2014 radiation leak that was never supposed to happen, but does not mention that event. However, EPA has stated that the radiation release is an important consideration in its review.  http://www.epa.gov/radiation/news/wipp-news.html#wippcra2014pubmeetings

The meetings will include EPA and WIPP officials and allow for questions, answers, and discussion as part of the information exchange among the government officials and the public. The Tuesday, June 16^th meeting is at the Carlsbad Field Office from 1:30 to 4:30 pm. On Wednesday, June 17, the two Albuquerque sessions are at the Embassy Suites Hotel, at 1000 Woodward Place, Northeast. From 2:30 to 6 pm the roundtable dialogue will allow detailed technical discussion. The evening session from 7 to 9 pm will include time for public statements. The public can provide comments during each session.

As a result of the radiation leak, many changes will have to be made for WIPP to re-open. Among the changes are a new exhaust shaft and new underground waste disposal rooms. Neither of those major changes is mentioned in the DOE application.

Further, ignitable waste in hundreds of drums shipped to WIPP from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) have been identified by DOE as the source of the radiation leak, even though such waste is not allowed at WIPP. Such waste is omitted from the analysis in the DOE application.

Also not discussed in the application is how the LANL waste characterization information could have been so inadequate as to allow prohibited waste at WIPP and what changes are required.

Other issues include whether EPA has to approve WIPP’s reopening, which, given the lack of complete and accurate information in the DOE application, is unlikely to occur so that WIPP could re-open in March 2016, as is DOE’s current schedule.

Federal law and EPA’s regulations prohibit commercial and high-level waste at WIPP. DOE and EPA are being asked to explain why small quantities of commercial spent nuclear fuel have been allowed at WIPP.

According to Don Hancock, of Southwest Research and Information Center, “The meetings are an important opportunity for people to tell EPA to do its job of protecting New Mexicans now and for generations into the future.”  sric.org

EPA can take the information and public comments to raise additional questions about the DOE application. DOE must provide information at the meetings and submit much more information to EPA to address the inadequacies in their application.

This has been the CCNS News Update. To learn more, please visit our website at nuclearactive.org