{"id":128397,"date":"2026-04-24T09:26:56","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T15:26:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/new-mexico-environment-officials-mandate-more-legacy-nuclear-waste-at-wipp\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T09:26:56","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T15:26:56","slug":"new-mexico-environment-officials-mandate-more-legacy-nuclear-waste-at-wipp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/new-mexico-environment-officials-mandate-more-legacy-nuclear-waste-at-wipp\/","title":{"rendered":"New Mexico environment officials mandate more legacy nuclear waste at WIPP"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Crews
Crews demolish and replace structural steel needed to remove mined salt from the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant underground repository in November 2024. Courtesy of U.S. Department of Energy<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

New Mexico environment officials on Thursday issued new requirements for the federal government\u2019s operation of the nation\u2019s only nuclear waste disposal site as part of longstanding efforts to address legacy waste.<\/p>\n

State officials, the federal government and contractors operating the lab and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant agreed to settlement terms in 2023<\/a> to dispose of more legacy waste in lieu of new defense waste and additional oversight terms.<\/p>\n

Environment Secretary James Kenney said this week the federal government has walked back those agreements in the intervening years. He said the latest budget from the Trump administration cut DOE\u2019s total cleanup budget by 5%<\/a>. Further, statements<\/a> from WIPP that construction for areas to hold more legacy waste would be pushed back to 2032 circumvented the agreement, Kenney said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSimply because their budget is changing at a federal level does not excuse them from their obligation to meet the terms of our settlement agreement,\u201d Kenney told Source NM.<\/p>\n

He noted that WIPP disposal of waste from Idaho National Laboratory outstripped New Mexico at a rate of five to one in the last two years.<\/p>\n

The revised permit issued Thursday, requires a clear definition of legacy waste. It also mandates that WIPP dedicate 55% of disposal volume to LANL legacy waste through 2031, raising that to 75% of total disposal volume in 2032. Additionally, it requires all waste at a LANL nuclear and chemical waste landfill to be shipped to WIPP by July 1, 2028. Finally, the permit increases reporting requirements.<\/p>\n

The new permit allows state officials to put the focus back on legacy waste cleanup and strengthen transparency, Kenney said.<\/p>\n

The DOE will \u201ccarefully evaluate\u201d the state\u2019s proposed changes, said Valerie Gohlke, the communications manager for the agency\u2019s Carlsbad Field Office, in a statement to Source NM.<\/p>\n

Anti-nuclear watchdogs told Source NM the proposed regulations represent a significant shift in state regulator\u2019s posture toward the federal nuclear program \u2013 and in their view \u2013 a welcome one.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pointing to an increasingly adversarial relationship between NMED and DOE, all of which I view as good,\u201d said Nuclear Watch New Mexico Executive Director Jay Coghlan. \u201cIt means NMED is putting New Mexicans ahead of the nuclear weapons industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greg Mello, the executive director of nuclear nonproliferation nonprofit Los Alamos Study Group, noted that the Trump administration nearly doubled the budget for plutonium pit production program in the past year at LANL. \u201cThe Trump administration wants to make more nuclear weapons over cleaning up the mess from the old ones,\u201d Mello said. \u201cNMED rightly insists that there be a provision for cleaning up the mess that LANL and DOE made.\u201d<\/p>\n

NMED is accepting public comment on the draft revised permit until June 8, and said in a news release that the process is expected to conclude in the fall.<\/p>\n

Source NM is an independent, nonprofit news organization that shines a light on governments, policies and public officials.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/element><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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