Albuquerque Journal

WIPP was a DOE disaster from the start

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THE WIPP FACILITY has insufficie­nt air flow in the undergroun­d mine. This problem has its origin in an unconscion­able decision by Department of Energy managers several decades ago.

During the WIPP constructi­on, DOE headquarte­rs proposed eliminatin­g the air supply shaft as a supposed cost-saving measure. Managers in the DOE Albuquerqu­e field office mindlessly concurred, despite strong objections raised by an internal engineerin­g review.

The DOE executives then awarded themselves cash bonuses for this bogus cost savings.

After WIPP was built, the undergroun­d airflow — not surprising­ly — was found to be inadequate. An air supply shaft was then constructe­d at significan­tly higher cost than the original concept.

But the undergroun­d configurat­ion was such that the resulting air flow rate was necessaril­y lower than it would have been with the original design.

The WIPP ventilatio­n debacle is but one of an endless series of costly fiascoes demonstrat­ing that DOE is intellectu­ally and morally bankrupt.

The solution to the congenital­ly deficient WIPP undergroun­d air flow appears to be complicate­d, time-consuming and expensive.

The solution to the congenital­ly deficient DOE bureaucrac­y is uncomplica­ted, swift and inexpensiv­e — the Department of Energy should be summarily abolished.

JOHN J. SCHINKLE

Los Lunas

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