■ The Department of Energy commissioned a study on storing nuclear waste in New Mexico.

Scientists look at weapons-grade plutonium storage

CARLSBAD, N.M. — The U.S. Department of Energy has commissioned a national group of scientists to study the viability of diluting surplus weapons-grade plutonium and storing it permanently at the federal government’s underground repository in New Mexico.

The panel of about 15 scientists from universities, corporations and laboratories around the nation will evaluate the storage potential at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the nation’s only facility for permanently disposing of tons of Cold War-era waste contaminated with small amounts of plutonium and other man-made radioactive elements.

The scientists held their first meeting in November in Washington, D.C., then gathered again Tuesday in Carlsbad, where officials gave presentations and fielded questions on the feasibility of bringing plutonium to the repository, the Carlsbad Current-Argus reports.

Critics are unconvinced the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant can safely hold the plutonium, or that the facility’s mission can be expanded via federal law in an appropriate amount of time.

The scientists are members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, a prestigious coalition that provides advice on complex problems and public policy questions. They will evaluate the repository’s transportation capabilities, current and future operations, and compliance with federal regulations before and after a nearly three-year shutdown caused by a 2014 radiological release.

Senior Program Officer Jennifer Heimberg of the National Academies of Sciences’ Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board said the group hopes to make a recommendation to the Energy Department by December. She said the study is considering only the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant for the program and has not evaluated other sites.

Heimberg declined to comment on the board’s impressions after hearing from Carlsbad leaders.

Repository officials estimate the program would cost about $17 billion and that alternatives could cost up to $55 million.

Todd Shrader, manager of the Energy Department’s Carlsbad field office, said the office supports the proposal as part of the agency’s mission to dispose of nuclear waste left over from the Cold War. Through the dilution process, plutonium could be characterized as transuranic waste, which would allow it to be permanently stored at the repository using the facility’s existing infrastructure and processes, he said.

Transuranic waste includes contaminated tools, clothing, gloves and other items from decades of bomb-making and nuclear research at national laboratories and defense sites around the country.