First-of-its-kind US nuclear waste dump marks 20 years
Source: Associated Press
First-of-its-kind US nuclear waste dump marks 20 years
By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN
March 23, 2019
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — In a remote stretch of New Mexico desert, the U.S. government put in motion an experiment aimed at proving to the world that radioactive waste could be safely disposed of deep underground, rendering it less of a threat to the environment.
Twenty years and more than 12,380 shipments later, tons of Cold War-era waste from decades of bomb-making and nuclear research across the U.S. have been stashed in the salt caverns that make up the underground facility . Each week, several shipments of special boxes and barrels packed with lab coats, rubber gloves, tools and debris contaminated with plutonium and other radioactive elements are trucked to the site.
But the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant has not been without issues.
A 2014 radiation leak forced an expensive, nearly three-year closure, delayed the federal government’s cleanup program and prompted policy changes at national laboratories and defense-related sites across the U.S. More recently, the U.S. Department of Energy said it would investigate reports that workers may have been exposed last year to hazardous chemicals.
Still, supporters consider the repository a success, saying it provides a viable option for dealing with a multibillion-dollar mess that stretches from a decommissioned nuclear weapons production site in Washington state to one of the nation’s top nuclear research labs, in Idaho, and locations as far east as South Carolina.
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Read more: https://apnews.com/6efa2b416e4240cd8c979cd6d8ac88f5
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Source: Associated Press
US underground nuclear waste dump explained
By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN
March 23, 2019
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — It wasn’t long after the atomic bomb was dropped on Japan and World War II ended that the United States began to realize it had to do something with the waste that was being generated by defense-related nuclear research and bomb-making that would continue through the Cold War — and indefinitely.
Tainted with plutonium and other elements, the waste — gloves, clothing, tools and other materials — couldn’t be left just anywhere, so it was decided that a repository would be dug deep into the desert in southeastern New Mexico.
WHAT IS THE WASTE ISOLATION PILOT PLANT?
WIPP is the United States’ only permanent underground repository licensed to take low-level radioactive waste generated by the nation’s nuclear weapons program. There are a few other commercial facilities in the U.S. that accept low-level waste, but none involves hoisting the waste to such depths.
Carved out of an ancient salt formation about half a mile (0.8 kilometers) deep, the subterranean landfill is located outside of Carlsbad, New Mexico, a once sparsely populated area that is now home to a major oil and gas boom.
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Read more: https://apnews.com/92ccc03bd9a44683a5beb8c1e07542d3