Weve been following this Disaster since it first broke out on the 14th of February. :( A recent fire and radiation release at New Mexicos Waste Isolation Pilot Plant uranium repository has brought renewed focus on the problem of what to do with a growing stockpile of radioactive waste and spent fuel from commercial nuclear reactors. WIPP is the worlds third deep geological repository constructed and licensed to permanently dispose of radioactive waste for 10,000 years. The repository sits approximately 26 miles east of Carlsbad, in an area known as the southeastern New Mexico nuclear corridor. The moniker is due to the fact that this area also includes the National Enrichment Facility near Eunice, New Mexico, the Waste Control Specialists low-level waste disposal facility just over the border near Andrews, Texas, and the International Isotopes facility to be built near Eunice, New Mexico. Since shipments began in 1999, more than 80,000 cubic meters and 11,000 shipments of waste have been transferred to WIPP. The New Mexico repository places the waste inside shafts within an ancient salt bed more than 2,000 feet below the surface, which is supposed to collapse eventually around the waste and, in theory, seal it. Confident now are we?
Posted on: Tue, 25 Mar 2014 09:53:04 +0000
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