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Getting Rid of the Nuclear Waste Problem: the WIPP Stalemate

by Don Hancock,
Nuclear Waste Program

For much of the 1980's it seemed a foregone conclusion that the world's first permanent nuclear waste repository would be the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), a $700-million facility mined out of salt beds 2,150 feet below ground in southeastern New Mexico. During WIPP's construction over the past eight years, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) officials frequently boasted that the project was "on schedule and under budget" and would begin receiving waste in October 1988. WIPP's opening seemed inevitable as no New Mexico politician seriously questioned the project, no scientists raised major technical objections, no congressional committees were interested enough even to hold a hearing on WIPP, no regulatory agency asserted any authority over the project, no national environmental organization worked against WIPP, and no large, organized citizen opposition existed.

But much has changed during the past two years. WIPP's opening is now delayed until at least mid-1990. The project is millions of dollars over budget with major additional cost increases inevitable, if it proceeds. WIPP now is one of the most important political issues in New Mexico, with the delay also contributing to major political controversies in Colorado and Idaho. Because of the delay, federal officials have raised the specter that President Bush might declare a national emergency to move nuclear wastes. Most important, independent scientists have stated that the WIPP site will not meet health and safety standards; the fact that the site cannot be proven to be safe has caused a major reconsideration of the project by politicians, regulators, and the public. Five congressional committees have held hearings on WIPP since October 1987, and Congress has failed to enact legislation to allow WIPP to open. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and the New Mexico Environmental Improvement Board now have regulatory authority over some aspects of WIPP. Two national environmental organizations, two New Mexico based organizations, and the state of Texas jointly have threatened to sue DOE if it tries to open WIPP without complying with several federal laws. Thousands of New Mexicans have become actively involved in opposing DOE's current plans for WIPP and public polls show that more New Mexicans now oppose WIPP than support it. And numerous organizations in other states have become actively involved in objecting to WIPP and DOE's nuclear weapons production and waste facilities.