State fines DOE over shipments to nuclear waste dump

SANTA FE, N.M. – The state Environment Department has fined the Department of Energy nearly $2.4 million for violating state hazardous waste management regulations in shipments from Idaho to its nuclear waste dump near Carlsbad.

The federal government suspended shipments from the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory in mid-July after workers at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in southeastern New Mexico discovered drums of waste that should have not been shipped. The drums had been added after a batch readied for shipment had been tested.

The Environment Department on Tuesday issued the compliance order for the violations.

A federal spokeswoman said officials there had not seen the compliance order and could not immediately comment.

The Energy Department has 30 days to request a hearing. It also could ask for a settlement conference, which could result in a stipulated order agreed to by both sides.

Any fines paid will go to the state’s hazardous waste emergency fund, which underwrites environmental cleanups. State officials said suspect drums had been sent from Idaho since March.

The shipments of mixed waste – containing hazardous chemicals as well as radioactive material – included 107 drums that had not undergone proper testing to ensure that they met criteria to be buried at the New Mexico site.

The compliance order requires the Energy Department to submit a plan to the state for removing the untested waste and a technical justification showing that the 107 drums pose no elevated risk to human health or the environment. The documents are due in 30 days.

Environment Secretary Ron Curry said the state decided not to order the waste removed immediately after analyzing available information on the shipments.