New Mexico finds no red flags after inspecting nuke dump
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — No red flags were uncovered during a recent state inspection of the federal government’s underground nuclear waste repository as the troubled facility prepares to [auth] reopen, New Mexico Environment Secretary Butch Tongate said Wednesday.
The department’s team of inspectors focused on reviewing issues that dated back to a 2014 fire involving one of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant’s mining trucks and a separate radiation leak that contaminated much of the underground disposal area and forced the repository’s indefinite closure.
Tongate described the review as thorough, explaining that the state has a responsibility to make sure the U.S. Energy Department and the contractor that manages the repository have addressed the numerous violations that stemmed from the two incidents and that corrective actions had been taken.
“We’ve waited for nearly three years. We don’t want to get anxious and jump too far without taking a real close look at it,” he said. “We’re being cautious.”
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