I have blogged before about the problems at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, New Mexico. This is the only national geological repository for waste generated in the U.S. nuclear weapons program including tools, clothing and other objects that have been contaminated by plutonium and other radioactive isotopes. Around eighteen shipments of waste had been coming to the repository every week. Since 1999, over two million cubic feet of nuclear waste has been stored at the repository. The waste is stored two thousand feet underground in an ancient salt bed. Eventually, the salt around the waste facility is expected to collapse and embed the waste.
Back in February there was a truck fire underground. Then less than two weeks later, something else happened that released radioactive materials including plutonium into the environment. Seventeen workers were exposed. Some of the contamination was detected in the town of Carlsbad. It is still unclear exactly what happened in the repository. The two main possibilities seem to be that a drum of waste generated gases which exploded or the part of the ceiling collapsed onto the drums of waste. It is still too radioactive in the repository for investigators to ascertain exactly what happened. While the repository is shut down during the investigation, new shipments of waste are being diverted to a temporary dump in Texas.
It turns out that there are more than one hundred operating oil and natural gas wells within a mile of the sixteen mile square WIPP site. There are also fracking wells near WIPP. This could be a major problem if fracking fluids penetrate the salt deposit that contains the waste repository. One of the first things considered in selecting a site for a geological waste repository is the degree to which ground water moves through the underground volume being considered. While the original survey of the site found little evidence of ground water penetration, the fracking operations are pumping a mixture of water, sand and toxic chemicals under high pressure which is intended to penetrate the rock strata and force cracks open to release natural gas trapped in the rock. Obviously, fracking near a nuclear waste depository is not a good idea.
Another of the things checked when considering a geological nuclear waste repository is the question of whether the area being considered is seismically active. It has been discovered that fracking can cause earthquakes in places that never experienced them. Perhaps a fracking earthquake recently brought down part of the ceiling at the WIPP.
One critic of the administration of WIPP claims that there has been more efforts to expand the site to take even more waste than to foster a culture of safety to insure that the waste that is stored there is safely contained. Another critic points out that the WIPP was placed in an area that was known to contain accessible hydrocarbon resources. Such areas are not supposed to be considered when siting a nuclear waste repository. It would appear that it was a poor decision to locate WIPP near Carlsbad where future oil and gas wells were likely to be drilled. The residents of southern New Mexico were against locating the WIPP near Carlsbad by a three to one ratio. Local politicians and businessmen strongly supported the WIPP location and overrode the objections of the citizens of the area.
As usual, the authorities are saying that the released radioactive materials pose no threat to public safety. WIPP is shut down for an indeterminate period while waste piles up at laboratories and other facilities or in temporary storage. It may turn out that the WIPP will be deemed unsafe and will be shut down permanently. In that case, we can only hope that the next such repository is placed in a much more suitable location.
