Monday night in Pojoaque, New Mexicans will be able to hear from top officials with the Department of Energy – and ask questions. Advocates say they hope the townhall will shed more light on future plans in New Mexico for nuclear waste production and storage.
The townhall follows a similar event held last year in Santa Fe. Don Hancock is the director of the nuclear waste safety program with the Southwest Research and Information Center. His organization pushed for a second public meeting with the Department of Energy.
"These top DOE officials will be coming back and be able to talk about this intersection of what waste we have, what waste the Department of Energy wants to produce from new weapons production, and what does that mean for New Mexico, not only for Los Alamos [National Laboratory], but for WIPP [Waste Isolation Pilot Plant]," Hancock said.
WIPP opened in Southern New Mexico 25 years ago. It is the only underground geologic repository in the world for nuclear waste. The New Mexico Environment Department renewed its permit last year with certain conditions, including prioritizing legacy waste from the Cold War. There’s still quite a bit of that sitting at Los Alamos National Laboratory, or LANL.
Meanwhile LANL is producing new plutonium pits to go in the next generation of nuclear weapons. Hancock says the Department of Energy has not be straightforward about their plans with that or the future of WIPP.
The townhall will feature National Nuclear Security Administration Administrator Jill Hruby and DOE Senior Advisor for Environmental Management Candice Robertson. It will be moderated by Los Alamos County Deputy Manager Linda Matteson and New Mexico Natural Resources Trustee Maggie Hart Stebbins.
University of New Mexico Professor Myrriah Gomez is the author of “Nuclear Nuevo Mexico.” She says she hopes Monday’s meeting will get more people to start asking questions.
"What we're working toward right now is in anticipation, of LANL’s site wide Environmental Impact Statement, which is already six years overdue," Gomez said. "We are anticipating maybe seeing the draft statement this fall, and we are really going to need public involvement in those processes."
