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The airborne radiation leak that shut down a nuclear waste repository in southeastern New Mexico earlier this year was ultimately small and localized, according to a report by independent researchers.
In its final report on air, soil and water samples taken from around the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant over the course of several months, the Carlsbad Environmental Monitoring and Research Center said the concentrations of radiological contaminants in the air above ground were “very small, localized, and well below any level of public health or environmental concern.”
Soil, sediment and surface water monitoring also showed no detectable increases over radiation levels typically measured in the area.
The findings in the report are consistent with CEMERC researchers’ presentations to the public over the past nine months.
On Valentine’s Day this past February, a hot reaction inside at least one drum of nuclear waste stored at WIPP cracked open a container, releasing plutonium and americium into the underground space. Small amounts of the radiation escaped into the air above ground before WIPP’s high-powered air filters kicked in.
The report concluded that, inside the deep underground repository, “moderate levels of radioactivity” were released.
CEMERC has been monitoring concentrations of radiation in the air at WIPP since the facility opened in 1996. The above-normal readings at its air-monitoring stations in the wake of the Feb. 14 event were the first indication of an airborne radiation release during WIPP’s 15 years of operation.
“No negative radiation-related health effects among local workers or the public should be expected,” CEMERC concluded.
New Mexico State University runs CEMERC, which is funded by the Department of Energy through a grant process “that respects its independence in carrying out and reporting the results of environmental monitoring at and near the WIPP site,” the report said.
WIPP — the final resting place for certain types of defense nuclear waste, key to the nation’s cleanup of Cold War-era weapons production — is expected to remain shuttered for several years. WIPP managers have estimated the clean-up could cost half a billion dollars.
Report: WIPP leak small at surface, more serious underground
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