We envision a future of fairness and safety where New Mexicans are informed and involved in protecting public health and the environment.
Help us stop the expansion of the nuclear waste dump site in New Mexico.
First Annual Plutonium Trail.
On a brisk and blustery Saturday morning, a spirited convoy of enthusiasts embarked on a journey unlike any other – the inaugural Plutonium Trail Caravan, commencing at the majestic Camel Rock geological formation. Traversing through the heart of Santa Fe and El Dorado, this caravan made memorable pit stops along the way, culminating in a grand finale at the historic Lamy Train Station.
Fuelled by a shared concern for the growing threat of plutonium-contaminated radioactive waste transportation from LANL to WIPP, participants engaged fervently with the public throughout the day. The echoes of their voices, harmonizing satirical lyrics penned by the New Mexico Raging Grannies to familiar tunes, reverberated with passion and purpose.
But beneath the melody lies a tale of broken promises and systemic deceit. The Department of Energy's failure to meet the cleanup deadline and its plans to extend WIPP's operations until 2083 have ignited a fervor of activism and awareness. Myrriah Gómez, esteemed author of "Nuclear Nuevo México," underscored the urgent need to educate the younger generation about the perils of the nuclear weapons complex and its repercussions on New Mexicans.
As DOE and LANL seek to entice future workers from our schools, the grim reality of rising injuries and radiation exposure among current workers casts a shadow over their recruitment efforts. Yet, amidst these challenges, hope flickers like a beacon on the horizon.
The groundwork for the Second Annual Plutonium Trail Caravan of 2025 is already underway. Join hands with the Stop Forever WIPP Coalition to be part of this vital movement. Let your voice be heard, your actions felt, and together, let us forge a future free from the specter of nuclear peril. Visit stopforeverwipp.org and become a catalyst for change today.
Last Week (3-14-24) the Massachusetts Peace Action hosted a webinar: “Oppenheimer: Sins of Omission.”
It was very powerful to hear the New Mexican speakers' stories. This webinar video is available on YouTube. You may want to check it out:
Listen up.
Joining host Peter Goodman and Walt Rube to talk WIPP is Don Hancock, Director of the Nuclear Waste Program for the Southwest Research and Information Center (SRIC). We will discuss the WIPP nuclear storage site near Carlsbad and the proposed Holtec site. Hancock will rebut arguments made in a previous show by James Conca. WIPP is the nation’s only deep geologic long-lived radioactive waste repository.
NEPA Final Request Letter
Messages to the Governor of New Mexico
"Join the movement to stop WIPP forever and protect our environment! Click the button below to access a collection of newsletters dedicated to the critical mission of halting the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). Stay informed, take action, and make a difference today!"
Here is the Zoom recording of the WIPP Educational Conference that took place on April 16th. Unfortunately, we are having technical difficulties with the Spanish version so only the English version is available now, though we have posted the Spanish version of the first PowerPoint, What is WIPP? Separately. We hope to have the Spanish version of at least part of the rest of the conference available later.
You can watch the entire hours-long recording or watch the individual PowerPoints and the Panel Discussion + Q and A by going directly to the times on the Zoom timeline below.
What is WIPP? PowerPoint starts at 04:00
What is WIPP Expansion? PowerPoint starts at 25:15
The Permit and Public Participation PowerPoint starts at 01:04:04
The Power of Our Collective Voices: Panel Discussion and Questions and Answers starts at 01:19:54
WIPP Factsheet & Infographic
New Mexicans want to prevent 34 tons of Surplus Plutonium (Pu) that would come to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) for a number of reasons including:
—This Surplus Pu would be shipped in trucks, in different and dangerous forms across the county and through New Mexico twice for processing before being dumped at the WIPP.
— The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) has determined that the storage of the 34 metric tons or more of Surplus Pu at WIPP will exceed the legal capacity limit.
—This is a proposed expansion of the type of waste allowed at WIPP. The oxidized surplus Pu is far more dangerous than the “gloves and booties” the People of New Mexico were promised would be brought to WIPP.
There will be a series of public hearings about the Department of Energy (DOE)/National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Surplus Plutonium Draft Environmental Impact Statement.
Use the Scroll Bar to scroll further down to complete the document to email the governor.
Send an email to the Governor
DOE presenters noted that this “Community Forum” was, in part, a response to the Governor’s April 8 letter to Secretary of Energy, Jennifer Granholm, written in acknowledgement of your over 1100 petition signatures, asking for her action to protect New Mexico from the proposed WIPP expansion.
Please write Governor Lujan Grisham to let her know that the disrespect of the public at this so-called “Community Forum” is also disrespectful of her good intention to provide information and a real community forum for her constituents.
Ask her to please provide a real Community Forum in which members of her constituents can, as a community, ask oral questions, get real answers and clearly address the risks we face as the New Mexico Environment Department considers the WIPP permit renewal this year.
Here is message that you may copy and paste or you can also write your own message.
By now you probably have heard that the WIPP Community Forum held in Santa Fe on July 7th, in partial response to your April 8 letter, was a fiasco, that was disrespectful of both your good intentions and your constituents.
We respectfully request that, as soon as possible, you require a real, and transparent Community Forum, in which DOE and WIPP officials engage in open dialogue with the public and address our concerns regarding the expansion of WIPP.
You are invited to join the WIPP and DOE Facility Mailing List.
Breaking News
KOB 4 Investigates: Scientist fired after raising questions about safety at nuclear waste plant
On March 1, we delivered more than 1,100 petition signatures to Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham asking her to protect New Mexicans from the federal expansion of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). Please continue to let the Governor know of your concern by sending her an email - we provide a sample that you can use or change here. Here is an example of the petition that was signed along with a map of who signed it. For news coverage from the Press Conference visit Current News.
New Mexico Environment Department Permits More Expansion of WIPP Underground
Despite receiving comments from 19 non-governmental and business organizations representing tens of thousands of New Mexicans, the New Mexico Environment Department has permitted the use of the underground disposal Panel 8 at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) with 16-foot high ceilings. The Panel 8 ceilings are three feet taller than those in the first seven disposal panels in the underground mine for plutonium-contaminated waste generated from manufacturing nuclear weapons. The 19 groups requested that the Environment Department deny the permit modification request or elevate it as a class 3 modification, which would include a public hearing.
WIPP PANEL 8 CLASS 2 PMR GROUP LETTER
The Environment Department “determined, based on the public comments received, that ‘significant public concern’ over this [permit modification request] is not supported, which would warrant its elevation to a Class 3.” https://www.env.nm.gov/hazardous-waste/wipp/ , scroll down to the February 11, 2022 entry, Response to Comments [AR 220208], p. 5. It is notable that for the recent renewal of a WIPP groundwater discharge permit, DP-831, the Environment Department found significant public interest when five groups requested a hearing. https://www.env.nm.gov/public-notices/ , scroll down to Eddy County and Waste Isolation Pilot Plant for Ground Water Discharge Permit (DP-831). Mining of Panel 8 began in 2013 and was halted in 2014 when an underground fire and radiation release from one or more waste drums shutdown WIPP for nearly three years at a cost of $3 billion dollars. The Permittees, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and its contractor, the Nuclear Waste Partnership LLC, claim the higher ceiling is necessary to reduce roof falls that could endanger workers. Increasing the Panel 8 ceiling height required re-calculation of the limits for emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOC) from the waste drums. But the Environment Department reports behavior that contradicts that position. In its response to the public comments, the Environment Department reported that in 2021 the Permittees stated they “had not evaluated the need for VOC calculation changes nor run the model for the VOC calculations with the new room height” and “[o]nce the model was run the Permittees became aware of the need to submit a [request] to update the Permit based on the calculations for Panel 8.” https://www.env.nm.gov/hazardous-waste/wipp/ , scroll down to the February 11, 2022 entry, Response to Comments [AR 220208} , p. 9. Joni Arends, a CCNS co-founder, responded, “How can the Permittees claim in 2021, four years after resumption of mining and increasing the ceiling height by three feet, that they didn’t recognize the need to recalculate the VOC emissions? The VOC emission limits are what protects workers from the hazards of breathing VOCs.” Further, since 2013 the Permittees have been providing the Environment Department with verbal mining progress updates. https://www.env.nm.gov/hazardous-waste/wipp/ , scroll down to the February 11, 2022 entry, Response to Comments [AR 220208} , p. 8. Arends stated, “It is unconscionable that the Environment Department did not require written progress reports.” These are but two examples of what could have come to light in a public hearing.
Listen up.
Joining host Stephen Spitz this month is Don Hancock, Director of the Nuclear Waste Program for the Southwest Research and Information Center (SRIC). We will discuss the proposed expansion of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in southeastern New Mexico. WIPP is the nation’s only deep geologic long-lived radioactive waste repository.
State official requests look into federal WIPP actions
“New Mexico’s issues are national issues,” Kenney said. “We want to assist Congress in executing its effective oversight because DOE facilities in New Mexico need additional oversight.”
New Mexicans should be aware that more than half of WIPP’s future capacity is being reserved for future radioactive wastes from production of plutonium pit cores for new-design nuclear weapons for the new nuclear arms race. Those wastes are classified as transuranic or TRU wastes.
To quote the National Nuclear Security
Administration, “The combined TRU waste generated over 50 years would be
57,550 m3 [cubic meters], which would account for 53 percent of the
projected available capacity at WIPP. In addition, use of WIPP capacity
for national security missions such as pit production would be given
priority in the allocation process.” See https://www.energy.gov/sites/
So much for WIPP’s “cleanup” mission. And how convenient for NNSA to have the plutonium waste producer (LANL) and the plutonium waste dump (WIPP) all in the same nuclear colony (New Mexico).
Hurrah for Secretary Kenney and the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) for beginning to fight back. May they fight even harder in the future and deny the many Department of Energy proposals to expand WIPP.
Jay Coghlan
Nuclear Watch New Mexico
Thank you, Jay Coghlan for a good response to this specific article. Yes, I do agree with your assessment and subject matter expertise relating to supporting the efforts that the NMED and Cabinet Secretary Kenny are trying to protect New Mexico from the tyrant's DOE and NNSA proposals. The public safety, health and welfare for all New Mexicans should be the primary goal for keeping our diverse communities safe and from being taken advantage by the DOE, NSSA, NRC, WIPP, LANL, etc. Regard-less if the radioactive or nuclear material is waste or classified as transuranic or TRU wastes, I strongly believe New Mexico is not prepared to handle any type of emergency management response, specialized training, and core-capabilities relating to a radiological or nuclear accident of any magnitude. Yes, we may have the U.S. Homeland Security resources from the DOD such as the CBRNE Units from the military, but from a local, tribal, and state emergency management response capability, we are barely visible to the nuclear industry eyes or not even on their radar, period! Apparently, they are just waiting for the catastrophe event to occur and then, what are they going to do to mitigate the radioactive/nuclear release into the general public? Some local emergency managers in NM think they got this on-check and are in ready-state. Wish-full thinking and too much dreaming going on.
Good points, Francisco. The Santa Fe County Emergency Management Program has not been informed by DOE of the changes it is planning, and so has no procedures in place for the new mission, if it occurs.
DOE has a four-decade history of breaking commitments to the State of New Mexico, failing to address safety issues, disregarding local concerns, and acting without public transparency on both LANL cleanup and WIPP. DOE’s continuing bad faith in these matters is evident in NMED’s December 22, 2021 letter to the GAO. The political and technical problems on these DOE environmental issues are largely self-inflicted. Their missions would go more smoothly if they would scrub the remnants of Cold-War arrogance and work with New Mexico in good faith. In the meantime, the citizens of New Mexico should support Secretary Kenney and NMED in their efforts to hold DOE accountable.
While this is a welcome step by Sec NMED Kenney it needs to be re-emphasized that what DOE is proposing (and already underway without official approval by the Gov of NM) is in violation of the existing WIPP agreement between the Fed gov't and the Gov't of NM. Our state gov't is pushing new industries, especially green ones like solar & wind, to replace a pared down dependence on oil & gas. Continued & expanded nuclear waste storage & plutonium pit production is a direct contradiction. And the assumption that we need more nuclear weapons - or upgraded weapons - never changes the dynamic that perhaps we should be reducing and/or eliminating these world life-destroying horrors.
Thank you Mr Kenney. Thank you for being good at your job and trying to protect us. Thank you. So many snakes in the Federal government it's hard to keep up. Please demand response and credible explanation for their actions and lack of communication to you & us. Please keep this in the news.
While Kenney's concerns about removal of legacy waste are valid and important, those concerns -- and this article -- are examples of what happens when NM regulators, under direction by the Governor, want LANL to be the nation's center for plutonium but then cry in pain when they have to deal with the waste. Why in the world would NMED think that they can turn a blind eye to LANL's $18 billion plutonium pit mission, which they have consistently done while ignoring federal environmental law that gives them real leverage to affect that mission, while at the same time avoiding increased shipment of plutonium, or the dramatic slowdown of legacy waste removal? The Governor's idea -- and that of the activists -- seems to be to secretly applaud nuclear weapons manufacturing in New Mexico and for sure do nothing to impede it, but try to draw the line on helping dispose of surplus plutonium. "Plutonium processing and manufacturing for nuclear weapons is good, but processing plutonium for permanent disposal is bad," goes the thinking. In actuality, LANL is a poor site and institution for ALL industrial plutonium missions -- and neither are necessary to achieve their respective program goals. Both are unnecessary programs ginned up to support the contractors. There are simpler solutions that are really better in all respects, but they won't generate an endless combined stream of two or three billion dollars annually. Please understand that huge upgrades and additions in plutonium infrastructure and staffing can serve either or both missions. This article says "a more hazardous substance than transuranic waste would be transported twice on N.M. 599 and U.S. 84/285." That's incorrect. It's more of the same kind of waste. There is also an assumption that this transportation is dangerous. Where is the data to support that thesis? Let me help. There is none. Yes it's ugly, and yes the convoys have enormous latitude in the use of force. They are traveling "non-Constitutional zones." It seems that some people don't want their idyllic myths busted. I don't blame them, and if the shock of seeing armed convoys going by one's doorstep for the first time is a wake-up to the broader picture, then that's great. Just understand that what Kenney and the Governor and the antinuclear activists are not opposing is the total nuclear colonization of Santa Fe and northern New Mexico. Get real, dear friends. And why is this hypercolonialization happening? In part because Kenney and his predecessors, and of course the Governor, have not done their job well enough. Money talks, and people and the environment suffer. NNSA and LANL understand that they have a welcome mat in New Mexico for the dirtiest nuclear weapons production job there is. The Governor is ________ (you fill in the word) to think this is somehow beneficial to the state. LANL senior management told me a long time ago that LANL would become "the dirty lab," with cleaner, more scientific missions going elsewhere. That reality is coming in spades, with no investigation by this newspaper, or interest by Kenney.
Greg Mello, I highly admire your work, but I must correct two of your statements. It is incorrect that the waste for the new, expanded mission is the same as the waste currently allowed at WIPP. While it is crisscrossing the state, and indeed 11 other states, it is the same plutonium-239 but in a much more concentrated form than currently allowed. For more than half of those transports it will be in a powdered oxide form which, if released, sacrifices farmland, ranch land, our homes, and our lives. Less than a flyspeck of plutonium in this form, when inhaled, causes cancer 100% of the time. As a fine-grained powder it is inhaled without knowing. The other statement I disagree with is about transportation safety. In 2014 the drum that exploded in WIPP could have just as easily exploded en-route. It was simple luck that it didn't. There have been no studies showing if the TRUPACT containers used for transport would have contained such an explosion. The other traffic concern is that this new expanded mission would increase the amount of shipments, the distance of the shipments (back and forth across 11 states, twice), and the time the shipments will occur (from ending in two years to continuing for the rest of the century). This expansion of dangerous waste on the roads almost ensures an accident over time. Please continue the good work you do as the committed activist and scientist that you are. But be mindful about dismissing the concerns of others, who are working on the same issue and don't deserve ridicule.
Thank you Cynthia and all those who are bringing this issue to the attention of the public.
Thank you to Environmental Secretary Kenney for exercising leadership to protect New Mexico by urging greater congressional review of the transport and storage of dangerous nuclear waste in New Mexico. Federal agencies use code words ‘dilute and dispose’ and ‘downblending’ that mask the horrifying prospect of transportation and storage of new types of more dangerous materials (plutonium oxide powder) in New Mexico. New Mexico communities need congressional help.
Well said.
Beggars can't be choosers.... New Mexico begged for WIPP, and loves the money, so why the drama?? Political posturing!
A more current issue is the implementation of the Cannabis Act, in a series of ILLEGAL Rule Makings by the RLD Department, led by Linda Trujillo. Without the public involvement and input called for the the New Mexico Rules Act, this is installing an illegal drug culture in New Mexico; to the benefit of Egolf and the Governor. This is a much larger threat to New Mexico than the content of WIPP, but nobody seems to care. A lawsuit could unwrap this whole illegal project.
Cannabis doesn't have the killing half life of this "waste" and cannabis is not carcinogenic.
State of New Mexico demands feds investigate WIPP, federal nuclear programs
Seismic Slick
Earthquakes can damage property if large enough. And there is some very important property in the area. The nation’s main nuclear weapons waste storage site, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), lies a half mile underground in a salt formation in the middle of the New Mexican portion of the basin, a little north of most of the quake activity.
Report From Santa Fe This Week:
DON HANCOCK, Director, Nuclear Waste Program, Southwest Research and Information Center
Topics Include The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) and Its History
& Development of a New Mission for the Facility
It will be Showing Sunday November 21 @ 8:00 a.m on channel 5.1 & @ 4:30 p.m on channel 5.4 and Streaming on the PBS Video App
WHAT IS WIPP?
Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
The world’s only operating underground nuclear waste dump located near Carlsbad, New Mexico.
New Mexico bears the burden of storing and disposing of nuclear waste from states all across the country.
WIPP is permitted to operate until 2024 but the proposed expansion includes more dangerous waste, many more shipments, and no end date.
The mission of the Stop Forever WIPP Coalition is to stop WIPP expansion and ensure health and safety issues are fully addressed.
Plutonium waste is held in drums and driven across the country to the WIPP site near Carlsbad, New Mexico. Catastrophic accidents during the truck shipments are inevitable putting the health of drivers and entire communities at risk. Powdered plutonium in such an accident is invisible and easily inhaled by unknowing people, causing a continuous source of internal damaging radiation. Homes and property contaminated would need to be abandoned, displacing families and businesses. The new mission for new waste also requires more shipments on other routes to process plutonium before it could be shipped to WIPP, thereby endangering additional communities.
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