Part 2 of 2 Parts (Please read Part 1 first)
     Commissioner Hughes told an interviewer with respect to state inspection of radioactive materials shipments “That’s maybe a little bit reassuring that the state has a little bit of control there. If the shipments are limited to not much more than we have now, then I guess the chance of accidents would not be a whole lot more, either.”
     Cynthia Weehler is an anti-nuclear activist with community group 285ALL who is not reassured by the state’s inspection limitations for shipment of nuclear materials. She said, “It doesn’t address the issue of the new mission of the WIPP,” referring to the current shipment cap. “They’re [the governor’s office] referring to the old mission.”  
     Activists’ concerns about the expansion of the WIPP are justified. The DoE has submitted several permit modification requests including one to excavate a new shaft and another to dig two new underground chambers to contain barrels of waste. DoE has also requested an operating permit renewal application for the facility. These requests are pending approval by the environment department of the state.
     A DoE spokesperson said that the department does not consider that its application constitutes an ‘expansion’. On the other hand, nuclear watchdogs like Don Hancock, director of nuclear waste safety for the Southwest Research and Information Center say that the DoE requests are being used as a piecemeal way to expand the WIPP without using that term.
      In addition to those modification requests, the DoE issued a notice of intent last December to draft an environmental impact statement for its plan to dilute and dispose of surplus plutonium transuranic waste from the Cold War.
     Under the DoE “dilute and dispose” plan, surplus plutonium would first be transported to the LANL from the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas. It would then be ground into powder at the LANL. The plutonium powder would then be shipped to the Savannah River Site in South Carolina where it would be diluted before being shipped to the WIPP. A draft environmental impact statement is scheduled to be released before the end of the year. The governor of New Mexico is very concerned about the dilute and dispose plant for plutonium which she says is an example of the DoE prioritizing shipments from other states to the WIPP.
     Weehler is very concerned about the possibility of an accident. The odds of transportation problems go up with the increase of shipments under the WIPP’s expansion plans. He is worried that the emergency responders would not be able to respond fast enough to prevent people from being exposed to radiation.
     Martin Vigil is the Santa Fe County Emergency Management Director. He says that the county is ready to quickly respond to an accident and to treat anyone who was exposed to radiation. He also says that following the initial response, the country would actually have a low level of involvement because the state and appropriate federal agencies would step in.
     While the governor’s office is concerned about DoE priorities, the WIPP Transportation Safety Program is “very robust and touches all disciplines of response ensuring that communities are equipped with trained and capable responders and tools to ensure a rapid response to any transportation incident on the highway.” The Program provides training for first responders, hospitals and clinics along the shipping routes.