Protest marks WIPP anniversary

ALBUQUERQUE (KRE) - The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad opened 10 years ago Thursday, and a decade later the storage of radioactive waste there continues to draw protests.

Radioactive waste is stored at WIPP nearly 22 hundred feet under the southeastern New Mexico desert.

The facility is designed for waste generated by the nation's defense work such as plutonium-contaminated rags, tools or clothing.

The U.S. Department of Energy has applied to the Environmental Protection Agency to recertify the nuclear waste repository.

There have been no major problems since it received its first shipment of waste in 1999.

Protestors gathered in downtown Albuquerque Thursday morning saying WIPP should not be recertified.

The Citizens for Alternatives to Radioactive Dumping say new findings show that the facility is at risk for water contamination.

"This data shows the aquifer above WIPP is not in a steady state but rather rises and falls with rainfall," Janet Greenwald of CARD said. "This is not what the Department of Energy said when they applied for their certification from the EPA."

Greenwald said the waste will eventually end up in Mexico.

WIPP must seek recertification every five years to demonstrate that it complies with EPA regulations for disposing of radioactive waste.