Jul 13 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Stella Davis Carlsbad Current-Argus, N.M.



How can the United States establish one or more disposal sites for high level nuclear waste in a way that is technically, politically and socially acceptable?

State Rep. John Heaton, D-Carlsbad, told a federal blue-ribbon panel last week that the relationship between Carlsbad and the U.S. Department of Energy's Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is the road map showing how to achieve that goal.

Heaton, along with Lokesh Chaturvedi, former deputy director of the Environmental Evaluation Group, and Don Hancock, from the Southwest Research Center, were in Washington last week to present testimony before the Disposal Subcommittee of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future. The topic was WIPP, a low-level nuclear waste repository located about 27 miles east of Carlsbad, and why it has achieved great success.

A delegation from Nye County, Nev., also came before the subcommittee to present their views on why the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear repository failed to get the support of the community and state, Heaton said.

 Heaton told the panel that the WIPP site has the acreage in withdrawn land that could be used to develop a defense-related, high-level nuclear waste repository. He said the key to the success of getting WIPP built and open was local leadership, community support and having salt beds that are ideal for the burial of nuclear waste.

"In my presentation, I explained to the subcommittee that the New Mexico Legislature defeated a bill in the mid-1970s that would have made it illegal to bring the waste into the state, and that no anti-WIPP legislation has ever passed in New Mexico," Heaton said. "I explained the creation of the Environmental Evaluation Group as the independent paid critic, and the consultation and cooperation agreement between the Department of Energy and the state addressed the state's concerns."

Heaton said he told the subcommittee that during WIPP's 11 years of safe operation, it has received more than 8,600 shipments, more than 68,000 cubic meters of waste disposed, more than 133,000 containers in the repository and logged more than 10 million loaded miles traveled to WIPP by truck.

"WIPP has one of the best safety records in the DOE and way below the industry averages," he testified, Heaton said.

He told the panel that there needs to be commitment to disposition of defense-related, high-level nuclear waste stored at facilities in Idaho, South Carolina and Washington.

"Defense high-level waste is not much different than the remote handled TRU we are presently taking at WIPP," Heaton explained. "The fission materials are relatively short-lived with an average 30-year half life, which means that in 90 years, the defense high-level waste would look much like the remote-handled waste in terms of heat."

Heaton told the panel that it was Carlsbad and its leaders who fought the battle for 30 years to get WIPP open. He said when the DOE was looking for a site, only one community would look at WIPP, and that was Carlsbad.

He said that today, communities around the country are competing for nuclear-related facilities because of the economic benefits they bring to a community.

He said he believes Carlsbad and New Mexico are ready to talk about high-level nuclear waste and about partnering with the DOE for such a facility in Carlsbad.

Chaturvedi, according to the transcript of last week's meeting, told the subcommittee that from his experience in scientific evaluation of WIPP -- and also as a reviewer of the Yucca Mountain project license application before it was submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2008 -- the site had a good chance of receiving the NRC license and becoming the first high-level nuclear waste repository.

"(Yucca Mountain) failed because of a lack of public support," he said. "Now that the project has been canceled, and the license application has been withdrawn, the only alternative is to find another suitable location. The search for a new site to bury high level nuclear waste should begin as soon a possible."

He said much can be learned from the WIPP project, starting from the planning stage to the opening and operation of the facility.

"WIPP is a success story and the only operating nuclear repository for waste rich in long-lived radionuclides. The process (to develop a site for high-level nuclear waste) should start and proceed in partnership with the states and local communities," Chaturvedi said, adding that WIPP demonstrates the importance of transparency of purpose.

The complete transcript of the subcommittee meeting can be accessed online at http://brc.gov/Disposal_Subcommittee.html.

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