The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant transuranic waste repository: A sleeping beauty
- GRAM Inc., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
On May 13, 1998, crowning a 24-year United States Department of Energy effort, the US Environmental Protection Agency certified that the deep geological repository for safe disposal of long-lived, transuranic radioactive waste proposed by the DOE at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant site in New Mexico complied with all applicable environmental radiation protection standards and compliance criteria. Pursuant to the applicable law, the WIPP Land Withdrawal Act of 1992, as amended in 1997, at the decision of the secretary of energy, the WIPP repository could open 30 calendar days after receiving the EPA certification. The secretary of energy announced May 13, 1998, that he intended to open the WIPP TRUW repository by June 14, 1998. However, at the end of 1998, the opening of the WIPP TRUW repository remains hostage to time-consuming, hazardous-waste-permitting procedures by the state of New Mexico Environment Department and two legal actions. Based on the EPA-verified high safety and the demonstrated risk reduction to both current and future generations offered by the WIPP TRUW repository, it is concluded that the WIPP TRUW repository is a sleeping beauty that will awake, perhaps in stages, and begin its important mission in 1999.
- OSTI ID:
- 6428437
- Journal Information:
- JNMM, Journal Name: JNMM Vol. 27:4; ISSN JNMMEK; ISSN 0893-6188
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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ALPHA-BEARING WASTES
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
FUNCTIONAL MODELS
LEGAL ASPECTS
LICENSING
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NEW MEXICO
NORTH AMERICA
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
PILOT PLANTS
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITIES
RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
UNDERGROUND FACILITIES
US DOE
US ORGANIZATIONS
USA
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTES
WIPP