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The U.S. Department of Energy has applied to the Environmental Protection Agency to recertify its nuclear waste repository near Carlsbad. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, which turns 10 on Thursday, must seek recertification every five years to demonstrate that it complies with EPA regulations for disposing of radioactive waste. WIPP, excavated in salt beds 2,150 feet below the surface of the southern New Mexico desert, is designed for waste generated by the nation's defense work - largely such things as plutonium-contaminated rags, tools or clothing. The EPA first certified WIPP in May 1998, with the first 5-year certification period dating from March 26, 1999, when WIPP received its first shipment of waste. AddThis Social Bookmark Button Unrated You must be logged in to rate this story. Login or register Comments Terms of Use: We welcome your participation in our community. Please keep your comments civil and on point. You must be at least 13 years of age to post comments. By submitting a comment, you agree to these Terms of Service You must be logged in to leave a comment. Login or register Leave a comment @ Controls (Powered by JS-Kit) See all comments Close windowBranding NM Nuclear Waste Dump Seeks Recertification Leave a comment Leave a comment as: [logout] Loading... OpenID: Loading... Login: Password: Loading... Haloscan login: Haloscan password: Loading... Login: Password: Re-type Password: Nickname (required): Send replies to email: (if provided, email will not be displayed or shared) Avatars management: No avatars uploaded. Please use the form below to add avatars. Upload new avatar: Rating: Comment: Add pictures (Powered by JS-kit) (Spam filtering by Akismet) Leave a comment @ Controls (Powered by JS-Kit) Close window

"Los Alamos National Laboratory is nearly doubling its number of weekly shipments to the federal government's underground nuclear waste dump in southeastern New Mexico. Lab officials say the campaign announced Thursday will eliminate a backlog of about 1,500 drums of transuranic waste that are awaiting shipment to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad. A crew from Tennessee's Oak Ridge National Laboratory will move temporarily to Los Alamos to double the lab's loading capacity. The loading facility also will move to a 7-day operation. Los Alamos lab usually completes four shipments per week to WIPP. That will increase to seven during the campaign. The transuranic waste consists of tools, rags, protective clothing, sludge, soil and other materials contaminated with radioactive elements."

"The debate over nuclear power in recent months has revolved around taxpayer backed loan guarantees for new nuclear projects. Not only has the President announced $8.3 billion in federal loan guarantees for a two-reactor project in Burke County, Georgia, his budget proposal includes tripling the nuclear loan guarantee program from $18.5 billion to over $54 billion. Unfortunately, some groups have used this debate to disguise their anti-nuclear agenda in anti-loan guarantee rhetoric. The basic construct of their argument is that nuclear energy is so risky and so expensive that using government backed financing subjects the taxpayer to unreasonable risk. The problem is that they often not only misrepresent facts about loan guarantees and what risks they pose, but also about nuclear energy broadly to make their case. Misrepresenting the facts not only undermines the legitimacy of their argument but takes away from a very important debate over whether or not loan guarantees are an appropriate tool for financing new nuclear (or any other energy source) projects."

"Iranian President Ahmedinejad minced no words when he responded to reporters' queries prior to the ongoing UN Non Proliferation Treaty Review Conference which started on Monday, May 3, 2010, in New York. He is the only head of state attending and was clearly prepared to take on Washington and its allies on the question of his country's uranium enrichment programme. This, the US and friends insist, is meant to fuel bombs not civilian power, regardless of Iran's claims that it is no more than that and well within the NPT rules. Ahmedinejad told reporters last Sunday that the dominant powers are using the atomic bomb as a 'tool for bullying, domination and expansionism,' and are imposing heavy pressures on independent countries, under 'the pretext of prevention of nuclear weapons proliferation.' As expected, the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Ahmedinejad were found sparring on stage on the opening day, the latter terming it 'disgusting' and 'shameful' that the US would still be in possession of over 5,000 atomic warheads.[ The United States revealed on Monday that it has a total of 5,113 nuclear warheads in its stockpile, as of September 30, 2009.] The Iranians stressed that this was not only unjustified but also a threat to global security. They added that an independent probe would be required to verify the actual number of nuclear warheads in US possession. All this must have been quite infuriating for Clinton. Prior to Monday's inaugural heat, she had told a 'Meet the Press' session, 'We're not going to permit Iran to change the story from their failure to comply.' "

"The high-tech task of investigating radiological contamination at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory where nuclear testing took place will employ some decidedly low-tech tools. The Environmental Protection Agency will rely on four mules carrying high-tech scanners designed to detect gamma radiation contamination in rocky, steep terrain in a section of the 2,850-acre field. The animals will help solve the "challenge of trying to get in more rugged terrain," said EPA senior science adviser Gregg Dempsey of the agency's Radiation and Indoor Environments National Laboratory."

Through covert dealings, Gov. Sarah Palin, State Dept. of Natural Resources, Bureau of Land Management, the Alaska and U.S. senators and representatives and an ANCSA corporation entrusted with the security and health of their constituents have accepted the lease proposal to explore for uranium at the Fireweed/Boulder Creek area located in southwestern Seward Peninsula, without the knowledge, consent nor approval of the citizens of Western Alaska. When students of Elim, Alaska first realized this, they began researching the effects of uranium mining and created educational posters to share what they learned. A community meeting was organized in Elim to share their findings and garner support to protest this action. The community responded favorably and in March 2007, demonstrated when the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race went through their town.

Giant loan guarantees could stick taxpayers with the bill At a time of deep partisan and ideological divi -sion in Washington, there aren't many issues that bring together forces from across traditional divides. So when scholars at conservative think tanks like the Heritage Foundation and taxpayer groups such as the National Taxpayers Union agree with environmentalists on something, it's time to sit up and take notice. That's exactly what's happening on the issue of federal subsidies for new nuclear power plants. Fiscal conservatives know that nuclear subsidies are a potential multibillion dollar boondoggle, while environmentalists know that - even beyond the environmental and public safety threats posed by the reactors themselves - there are far better and much cheaper solutions to our energy and global warming challenges."