A huge amount of $ 74 million over a settlement was signed byNew Mexico and the U.S. Department of Energy, for various permit violations in a large Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in Mexico which is the only one of its kind in New Mexico. This has been in the talks for many months now but signed recently because of some disagreements and negotiations happening.
When an improperly packed container burst and released radiation in the plant in its underground in Feb 2014, the plant was closed. As per investigators it was an avoidable incident. Many workers were exposed to low levels of radiation which was recorded in the monitors though it didn’t spread out of the plant.
When the incident happened that state has imposed a penalty of $54 million on the contractors for having violated many norms and this settlement is unprecedented and can be used for infrastructural development like road and also can be pumped into New Mexico’s environmental projects.
Ryan Flynn, Secretary of the Environmental Department of the State, felt that the incident at WIPP could have been avoided which were caused due to many failures at Los Alamos. His feeling was that focus could have been on the facilities rather than the problem. Many investigations have been happening for the past two years with Energy Department fully involving in studying the findings to avoid similar happenings in future.
Los Alamos has been urged for an immediate cleanup for which new deadlines have been set. The New Mexican property has to be revamped and the barrels containing radioactive wastes have to be removed at the earliest as per the State agency’s order. Due to a huge quantity of waste revamping like gloves, clothes and various tools which are contaminated from bomb making, Los Alamos is challenged and is facing delays in clean ups. The closing down of the new plant added to their delay as the issue has been complicated. Los Alamos is trying to quicken the clean up by not taking up many shipments containing wastes from nuclear complex of the federal government.
With the WIPP closure, which has been in operation for past 15 years, DOE finds the cleanup very difficult as the plant was catering to more than 20 different sites shipments. But as per Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, operations of plant can be resumed as permit violations have been taken care now, though some watchdog groups are not very happy about the safety of the public.
"The projects we are funding as part of this settlement are important investments in the health and safety of New Mexicans who work at or live nearby DOE facilities," Ernest Moniz said.
This invited comments from critics saying that the projects could have been funded by the federal government.
Strom water sampling and monitoring has to be increased apart from infrastructural development as per the settlement terms, around Los Alamos to avoid future challenges of similar nature.
