Nuclear Waste: Issues Affecting the Opening of DOE's Waste Isolation
Pilot Plant (Testimony, 07/21/95, GAO/T-RCED-95-254).

The Department of Energy (DOE) originally expected that the Waste
Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) (a geologic repository near Carlsbad, New
Mexico, for the permanent disposal of transuranic nuclear waste such as
tools, rags, paper and other material contaminated with long-lived
radioactive elements), would be operational in 1988. DOE now expects
that date to slip by at least 10 years. Pending legislation would
transfer from the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) to the Secretary of Energy the authority to determine if the
facility complies with EPA's disposal regulations and establish the
intention of Congress that the Secretary would make this determination
by March 31, 1997, 9 months earlier than DOE currently expected to
obtain a certificate of compliance from EPA's Administrator.  GAO's
current and previous reviews of WIPP have found that while compliance
with environmental regulations is key to the opening of the facility,
DOE has contributed to the delay through its early emphasis on
construction and then on performing unnecessary tests with transuranic
waste at the expense of attention to environmental compliance issues.
Transferring the primary responsibility for certifying compliance with
disposal standards to DOE might not shorten the resolution of the
compliance issue if the transfer undermined public confidence in the
decision.  Finally, achieving the legislative objective of a decision on
compliance with disposal standards in March 1997 would not necessarily
ensure that WIPP opens then. Other elements of the disposal system need
to be developed before waste can be processed and shipped to WIPP.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  T-RCED-95-254
     TITLE:  Nuclear Waste: Issues Affecting the Opening of DOE's Waste 
             Isolation Pilot Plant
      DATE:  07/21/95
   SUBJECT:  Nuclear waste disposal
             Radioactive wastes
             Environmental monitoring
             Nuclear facility safety
             Safety regulation
             Compliance
             Atomic energy defense activities
             Facility construction
             Nuclear waste management
IDENTIFIER:  New Mexico
             
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