DOE wants to send surplus plutonium to WIPP

Diluted weapons-grade material would come from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina

LAS CRUCES — The Department of Energy has decided it wants to send nearly 7 tons of weapons-grade plutonium to WIPP as part of its effort to reduce the threat of nuclear arms proliferation — despite the repository’s current closure due to radiological contamination.

The processing and packaging of the plutonium alone could take several years, experts say, and the plan is likely to be reviewed by Congress as well as the New Mexico Environment Department. DOE says it expects to partially reopen WIPP later this year.

In a document signed Wednesday by the

head of the DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration, the department outlines its plan to dilute the surplus plutonium at South Carolina’s Savannah River Site and ship it to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, outside Carlsbad.

The WIPP nuclear waste repository has been closed since February 2014, when an underground fire caused an initial shutdown and an unrelated radiation release several days later contaminated the facility.

“The importance of keeping nuclear materials out of the hands of terrorists is clearer today than ever and is essential to protecting our nation and allies,” NNSA said in a statement.

The 6.6 tons, or six metric tons, of plutonium at Savannah River includes all plutonium sent there by foreign countries, according to NNSA. The plutonium has been declared surplus, but it could be used to produce nuclear weapons and is thus a priority for disposal, NNSA said in a statement.

It is unclear whether shipping additional diluted, or “down-blended,” plutonium would require changes to the federal law that authorized WIPP, which sets limits on the volume of waste that can be disposed there, or whether the new waste will fit underground in WIPP’s current configuration.

New Mexico Environment Department Secretary Ryan Flynn said the disposition of additional plutonium “is something we will be happy to consider down the road after we have addressed the more pressing issues at the facility.”

WIPP remains on track to restart partial waste emplacement by the end of the year, Flynn said, but he added, “The most important thing is that when we do resume operations it is safe to do so. We are not going to compromise safety in order to meet an arbitrary deadline.”

The WIPP repository — mined from a geological salt formation 2,150 feet below the surface — is authorized to accept transuranic waste, a byproduct of nuclear weapons production that is more radioactive than low-level waste but not as hot, in the thermal sense, as high-level waste or spent fuel.

The 1992 federal Land Withdrawl Act limits the amount of transuranic waste WIPP can hold to 6.2 million cubic feet. There are currently 3.2 million cubic feet of waste underground, Flynn said, so the repository is “roughly about half-full at this point.”

Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., said the priority must be worker safety and said he has questions about the proposal.

He added, “WIPP has taken shipments of surplus plutonium from Savannah River before, but if DOE moves forward with this plan, the state of New Mexico and Congress will need assurances that this proposal fully complies with WIPP’s disposal criteria and with the Land Withdrawal Act.”

Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., whose district includes Carlsbad, said, “WIPP is vital to the Carlsbad economy, and my immediate priority has always been and remains to reopen the WIPP site as safely and effectively as possible. Any and all transuranic material that meets WIPP’s standards should continue to be disposed of at the site. It is vital to the health and safety of the nation and New Mexico.”

John Heaton, head of the Carlsbad Mayor’s Nuclear Task Force, said the commu- nity supports the DOE’s decision and also said WIPP will have no problem accommodating the additional waste, which will likely take years to prepare and package.

“It would be a horrible shame to have a facility like WIPP and not use it to clean up the defense complex around the country,” Heaton said. “To not use it to its fullest capacity would be a disservice to the country.”

The NNSA said that once the additional plutonium is diluted, it “will be packaged to meet the WIPP waste acceptance criteria and all applicable regulatory requirements.”