The Nation : U.S. Delays Start of Nuclear Waste Plant

The Department of Energy told a House subcommittee that it may not be able to open the nation’s first permanent underground nuclear waste disposal facility until the end of the year, instead of next month, as planned. The facility, called the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), is a $700-million depository located 2,150 feet below ground near Carlsbad, N.M. The Government Operations subcommittee on environment, energy and natural resources was told in Washington that the Department of Energy has not adequately proven it can safely operate the facility. That conclusion was reached by the department’s Office of Safety Appraisals, its Brookhaven National Laboratory and an environmental consultant it hired to review the facility. At the same time, the congressional General Accounting Office said it would be premature for Congress to approve the Energy Department’s request to pass legislation needed to bring the project into operation.