Nuke weapons waste disposal using Waste Isolation Pilot Plant to have 'negligible impact'

Weapons-grade plutonium could be disposed of using the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant through a controversial project that moved forward Friday as federal officials issued the results of an environmental analysis.

The report concluded environmental impacts could be “negligible to minor." But advocates expressed deep dismay over plans to truck the waste halfway across the country and back, and the risk it could place on communities where the trucks pass.

The report known as an environmental impact statement (EIS) was one of the last steps toward beginning the project and was being used by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to issue its final decision.

Here are the key findings of the NNSA’s environmental impact statement.

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What is being proposed to dispose of the nuclear waste?

The process in question would see 34 metric tons (MT) of surplus plutonium from nuclear weapons development mostly held at the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas diluted using a chemical process before being sent to WIPP for disposal.

After the dilution is complete, the NNSA said the waste will meet the criterial for disposal at WIPP as transuranic (TRU) waste, made up of radiation-contaminated debris like soils, sludges and clothing materials.

TRU waste is disposed of at WIPP via burial in the site’s underground salt deposit about 30 miles east of Carlsbad, trucked in from DOE sites across the country.

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The plutonium “dilute and dispose” project would see the waste first sent for process at Los Alamos National Laboratory in northern New Mexico and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina before coming to WIPP.

The proposal became controversial as nuclear watchdog groups in New Mexico and across the U.S. questioned the safety of moving the waste across the country before its final disposal.

How much environmental impact would the project have?

The EIS found that the environmental impacts to multiple sites proposed for the work would be “negligible to minor,” and largely related to associated impacts from the construction.

No latent cancer fatalities were expected, and radiation doses to workers and the general public were reportedly at safe levels during transportation of the waste, read the report.

What would happen at Los Alamos while the waste is prepare for disposal?

In the EIS, the agency detailed its ‘preferred alternative’ to ship all 34 MT of the plutonium to Los Alamos, then to Savannah River Site before coming back to New Mexico for disposal at WIPP.

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This was believed to be the most cost-effective and safest method of disposal, requiring the least amount of construction at the involved sites to increase their capabilities.

That would mean installing more gloveboxes at Los Alamos to disassemble plutonium pits, and furnaces to heat into an oxide, the report read, before shipment to Savannah River.

How is the plutonium prepared for disposal in South Carolina?

In South Carolina, the waste would be diluted and evaluated at the Savannah River Site for disposal at WIPP.

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This would also entail construction at Savannah River to augment that site’s capabilities by installing new processing equipment, ventilation and gloveboxes to handle the waste.

The work there would see the oxide produced at Los Alamos mixed with an adulterant to lower its radioactivity, making it acceptable for disposal.

Why are people concerned about the disposal of this nuclear waste?

The waste will be moved from Texas to New Mexico, to South Carolina and back to New Mexico for disposal at WIPP, crossing through the state three times on each leg of the project.

New Mexico groups worried this could endanger communities along the routes to radiation exposure should any sort of traffic or other accident occur while the waste is enroute to each destination.

They also argued the plutonium would exceed WIPP’s legal capacity for waste disposal, and that a new facility outside of New Mexico should be sought for disposing the waste.

In April 2022 Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham penned a letter to U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, espousing such concerns and asking the Department of Energy to reconsider its proposal after receiving a petition the month before.

What other alternatives for the project were studied?

The NNSA also studied projects that would use only Savannah River or only Los Alamos for preparing the waste for disposal at WIPP.

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Both were believed to involve more construction and shifting of resources at both sites to make room for the additional facilities needed, and the agency said it preferred to spread the activities out at multiple facilities for better efficiency.

A “no action” alternative was also studied that would see most of the 34 MT of plutonium, the pit waste, continued to be stored at the Pantex Plant.

Another 7.1 MT of surplus plutonium would continue to be sent to WIPP via the dilute and dispose method using Los Alamos and Savannah River, as the NNSA issued a decision to do so with that waste in 2020.

Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on the social media platform X.

This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: Nuke weapons disposal using Waste Isolation Pilot Plant believed safe