Public Health New Mexico

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Feds Could Ship High-Grade Plutonium To WIPP

KUNM | By Ed Williams

Published April 1, 2016 at 6:42 PM MDT

The U.S. Department of Energy is hoping to send tons of weapons-grade plutonium waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, or WIPP, near Carlsbad.

The DOE says its plan is to ship almost seven tons of nuclear waste from a processing plant in South Carolina to New Mexico. The plan has drawn criticism from activists and researchers.

"None of this waste was ever supposed to go to WIPP. None of this waste actually fits into WIPP," said Don Hancock of the Southwest Research and Information Center. "In addition, some of this waste, at least, is clearly prohibited by law. Some of this waste is foreign civilian waste, and WIPP is for U.S. defense or military waste."

WIPP has been closed since a fire broke out and radiation leaked from the facility in 2014, and the New Mexico Environment Department hasn’t reviewed the plan yet. NMED Secretary Ryan Flynn told the Albuquerque Journal the department would consider the plan, but more pressing issues need to be addressed at WIPP first.

Correction: This story has been corrected to show that it's the Southwest Research and Information Center, not the Southwest Information and Research Center.