Q: What is the U.S. policy towards handling nuclear waste?

A: The U.S. policy is deep geological disposal. The reason for that is because the radioactive materials have a long half life and you have to remove it from the environment and the best place for it is deep geological repository.

Q: How does this policy relate to other country's policies?

A: It's very similar. Other countries are doing the very similar type of thing. Is looking into deep geological repositories to dispose of their nuclear waste.

Q: Are the other countries as far along in the process?

A: That's one good thing about the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, WIPP, we're the first permitted facility in the world and uh, we just recently got our permit from the Environmental Protection Agency?

Q: What did you have to do to get the permit?

A: We had to demonstrate to our independent regulator, the Environmental Protection Agency that we could dispose of the waste here for 10,000 years and do it safely.

Q: And how did you demonstrate that?

A: We were able to demonstrate that by using computer models and by doing science and research on the environment and on our waste and putting all together in a compliance application that we gave to the EPA. They reviewed it for about a year and a half. Did further analysis on their own and they came to the same conclusion that it's a safe place to dispose of nuclear waste.

Q: Can you explain how WIPP is going to help solve the problems that the U.S. has with nuclear waste?

A: Oh yes, we uh, we've been storing, the waste that we're talking about is transuranic waste (Uh huh) we've been storing this nuclear waste at different sites around the country ever since the early 1970's. What this will do is that the waste from the surface that's exposing probably, approximately about over 50 million people within a 50 mile radius of all our sites and permanently disposing of it and safely disposing it 2150 feet under ground in a geological formation that's been there over 250 million years.

Q: Were are the other wastes stored at currently?

A: Our biggest? storage site is up in Idaho. Uh, we also have sites in Denver, Washington, California, Nevada, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Illinois and quite a few other states, in fact there are 17 states all together that have storage sites.

Q: Are they all above ground storage?

A: All above ground storage in tent-like structures.

Q: What are the advantages to storing waste below ground versus above ground?

A: Oh, the biggest advantage is uh, you're exposed to environmental elements such as flash floods, tornados, hurricanes, forest fires, uh in above ground storage. And if you dispose of it 2150 feet underground, you remove it from the environmental elements.

Q: Describe for the viewers the safety precautions being taken at WIPP.

A: Well, one of the key elements is the transportation system that we are going to be shipping the waste in. We have the safest transportation system in the United States today. Uh, that's what the National Academy of Scientist, the best scientist in the world, that come out to that conclusion after reviewing our program. The reason for that is one, is our package itself uh, the package has been designed and built that is very safe. Uh, we have gone to full scale testing, we dropped it, punctured it, burned it, we just beat the heck of it out of this package trying to make it leak and we could not make it leak. So it's a very safe transportation package. But also we have an excellent carrier. Uh, we contracted with a carrier, carrier that uh, has all kinds additional requirements. Uh, as have safety procedure, the drivers are well trained uh, they don't, they're not allowed to have any moving violations while they are working for us. Whether on the job transporting the material or in their private vehicle. Uh, that's that's the safety precaution that we take on the transportation system.

Q: Can you talk about the safety of the site itself?

A: I certainly can, it's the salt formation is designed to move in. That's why we picked the facility in a salt geology. You excavate an area, you place your waste into this area, and the salt creeps in and totally encapsulates the waste, and the waste becomes one with the rock. 200 years from now, when you go back, if you would go back and look into the facility you couldn't tell the difference between the waste and the rock. It totally encapsulates the waste. So that's part of our design features for the salt to move in.

Q: WIPP will not take care of the total existing waste. What other things should we do to clean up what is left once WIPP is at full compasity?

A: Well, actually the WIPP is designed to take care of the entire transuranic waste, store transuranic waste that's out there in the system. But there is other nuclear waste out there in the system. There's high level waste and there's spent fuel waste. Um, those are currently uh, planned to be disposed at Yuca mountain facility and that facility needs to still be, go through it's characterization, it's certification by independent regulator and then once that's all done like WIPP then they would be ready to dispose at that facility also.

Q: 70% of the site is saved for future waste. Where is that going to come from?

A: Yeah, that's what the key is all about. The WIPP is there to take care of the legacy that's uh, been generated from the Cold War to clean up all our facilities out there through out the country. Like you said, about 1/3 of the waste is already been generated. The other 2/3 is be generated from the clean up of our weapons facilities throughout the country and the waste they generate from those clean up activities.
 

END INTERVIEW