Dr. Conca reports that the State of New Mexico will be the big loser if it allows the U.S. Department of Energy to miss an opportunity to quickly solve a nuclear-related problem. This problem is a State Rights issue, not just a federal one.
The only operating deep geologic nuclear waste repository, the Waste Isolation Pilot Project near Carlsbad, New Mexico, had its first minor accident on Valentine Day 2014, after 15 years of perfect operations (NMED). Several chemically incompatible compounds were added to some old nuclear defense waste in drums up at Los Alamos, with the final insult being the addition of the wrong kitty litter to stabilize radioactive nitrate salts (Kitty Litter). When the drums were delivered to, and disposed of, in WIPP, one drum slowly heated up and leaked. It was a small release of radiation that did not, and will not, harm anyone or have any environmental consequence. However, there are a few hundred more of these drums in the underground at WIPP with some potential for another leak, making it important that these other drums be sealed off from the environment as quickly as possible. That does not mean anything more than installing a few metal doors, or bulkheads, and beefing up the ventilation system in the underground, something we do all the time (see WIPP Recovery and a previous post, WIPP, for more detail on WIPP and its operations)..
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