Preparations and Planning for EPA Recertification of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Recertification Project was established to meet the requirement of the WIPP Land Withdrawal Act (LWA)1 to demonstrate continued compliance with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) disposal regulations at five-year intervals. This paper delineates the objective of the first recertification effort, sets out project goals, and establishes guiding assumptions. It describes the overall direction for a highly complex and interdependent set of tasks leading to recertification of the WIPP repository in 2004. This paper also lays out a high-level schedule for producing the WIPP Compliance Recertification Application (CRA). The major principle behind recertification is that the EPA recertification decision will not involve rulemaking or judicial review. To ensure that the EPA is able to retain this principle, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will not be incorporating changes through the recertification process. Only changes previously approved by the EPA will be included in the CRA. The EPA can approve significant changes to the current WIPP Certification through rulemaking. Non-significant changes are approved without rulemaking through the planned change reporting process [Title 40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Section 194.4(b)].
- Research Organization:
- Westinghouse TRU Solutions, 4021 National Parks Highway, Carlsbad, NM (US); Sandia National Laboratories-Carlsbad Programs Group, 4100 National Parks Highway, Carlsbad, NM; U.S. Department of Energy, Carlsbad Field Office, 4021 National Parks Highway, Carlsbad, NM (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- US Department of Energy (US)
- OSTI ID:
- 832711
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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