With the country's primary transuranic waste repository shut down following a radiation leak, the Department of Energy plans to store waste from the Los Alamos National Laboratory at a private disposal site in Texas.
The temporary measure would allow the DOE to meet a commitment to the state of New Mexico to remove several thousand cubic meters of waste from LANL by June 30. On Thursday, the site announced that Waste Isolation Pilot Plant contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership has signed a storage contract with Waste Control Specialists, pending an environmental review. The material comprises fabric, soil, tools and other debris contaminated with small amounts of plutonium and other radioactive elements. It would be shipped back to WIPP for final disposal when the repository reopens.
WCS operates a 1,338-acre disposal site for low-level and mixed low-level radioactive wastes from nuclear power plants, hospitals and research centers in 35 states. It is located in Andrews County, near the New Mexico border, about 60 miles east of WIPP.