Speak out
to Stop WIPP Expansion
Attend EPA’s virtual and in-person public meetings about
DOE’s Planned Change Request to Expand WIPP
Attend the Stop Forever WIPP Coalition's Webinar
August 21 to ask questions and prepare comments
Mining a new waste room at WIPP
Carlsbad
Wednesday, August 28
1–3 PM Technical Discussion
6–8 PM Public Comment Section
In-person locations and additional details below
Attend the Stop Forever WIPP Coalition's
WEBINAR
Wednesday, August 21
6–8 PM
to answer your questions and
help prepare your comments
Tell EPA
DO A FULL RULEMAKING
DOE has submitted a Planned Change Request to EPA for approval of two new waste disposal panels at WIPP, Panels 11 and 12. DOE has said it also wants to build additional panels 13 – 19, and bring new kinds of wastes to the facility, including surplus plutonium waste and wastes from new nuclear weapons trigger (pit) production. EPA wants information and scientific data about the effect these additional expansions would have on WIPP’s ability to contain the waste.
Green areas show the new corridors, new panels, and the new 5th utility shaft.
Panels 11 & 12 are the 2 green panels on the bottom, right (GAO map)
It’s important to tell EPA that because DOE’s proposed changes
are so significant, a FULL “Rulemaking,” not just an internal administrative review, is required to ensure EPA has all the information they need to make a reasoned decision.
A full Rulemaking process requires EPA to conduct a rigorous technical review and fully consider public comments. If EPA
doesn’t do so, the decision can be appealed to the courts. Such a legal appeal is not possible with a simple administrative review.
How do DOE’s proposed changes
make WIPP operations riskier?
DOE’s plans to expand WIPP to 19 panels and bring new kinds of plutonium waste means that WIPP would remain open until at least 2083 or even forever. Increased plutonium waste shipments will impact our roads and highways. This alone increases the risk that there will be an accident with a release during transportation.
Even worse is that the surplus plutonium waste would be in powdered form which would be virtually impossible to clean up if there is an accident with a release. Powdered plutonium is much more easily inhaled so that damage to human health and property is greatly increased when this kind of waste is released.
Can WIPP contain the waste for 10,000 years with DOE’s proposed changes?
DOE says there’s no problem. Yet EPA has pages of questions that DOE has not yet answered. EPA says the DOE’s data is insufficient, unclear, unreliable, only 50 % supported, and completely missing in many key areas.
A few of the questions that remain include:
1. How will the massively increased oil and gas drilling activities around
WIPP affect WIPP’s containment now and into the future?
2. How will fracking-induced earthquakes and injected produced water
affect WIPP’s integrity in the future?
3. Does the brine pocket pressurized with toxic hydrogen sulfide gas
that underlies part of WIPP extend under the proposed expansion
area as well?
4. How will DOE’s plans to increase the amount and concentration of
plutonium in WIPP beyond what was expected when WIPP was designed
affect the ability of WIPP to contain the waste?
Your Voice is Important!
DOE’s Proposed Changes must be addressed with a “Rulemaking” because the changes are significant.
• Impacts on the 10,000 year containment standard from adding waste
from new nuclear weapons production are unknown.
• Impacts on containment from adding new surplus plutonium waste
are unknown.
• Impacts from disposing nuclear materials and toxic chemicals in an area
experiencing massive energy development are unknown.
• Impacts on containment from keeping WIPP open for 60+ more years
are unknown.
• Impacts from a lack of air monitoring in the closed panels are unknown.
• Cumulative impacts from DOE delays in not updating its WIPP Site-Wide
Environmental Impact Statement for 30 years are unknown.
• Impacts from climate change on WIPP containment are unknown.
Join our educational (and fun)
WEBINAR
August 21 from 6 to 8 PM
Learn the details of the DOE Expansion Change Request
Get help preparing your talking points
Get links to sample comments,
Have your questions answered
Speakers include
Don Hancock, Director of Southwest Research and Information Center’s
Nuclear Waste Program
Douglas Meiklejohn, Water Quality & Land Restoration Advocate,
Conservation Voters of New Mexico
The EPA Events
In person and virtual
Carlsbad
Monday, August 26, 2024 - 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Skeen-Whitlock Building, 4021 National Parks Highway
Zoom registration link
Santa Fe
Wednesday, August 28, 2024
Hilton Santa Fe-Historic Plaza, 100 Sandoval Street
1:00 PM - 3:00 PM – Technical session - Public is welcome
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM – Public Comment session
Zoom registration link
additional information at
