New Mexico officials and members of Congress have called on the federal government to address the alleged problems with the U.S. Department of Energy’s environmental cleanup operations, leading to the potential for stronger oversight on the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.

A Dec. 30 report by the Carlsbad Current Argus states that New Mexico Environment Secretary James Kenney wrote a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently, expressing concerns for operations at the West Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) and calling for increased oversight for the nuclear waste repository near Carlsbad.

“The WIPP is subject to an NMED operating permit and must adhere to the requirements of the permit in order to remain operable in New Mexico and in service to the nation,” Kenney wrote in his Dec. 22 letter to the GAO. 

According to a report by KRQE, low-level transuranic waste shipped to the WIPP to be disposed of. Transuranic waste is described by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission as "artificially made, radioactive elements, such as neptunium, plutonium, americium, and others ... . Transuranic waste is primarily produced from recycling spent fuel or using plutonium to fabricate nuclear weapons." 

In his letter, Kenney said the first priority for the disposal of nuclear waste should be given to the Los Alamos National Laboratory in northern New Mexico, and that waste from New Mexico should be prioritized over waste from other states. 

While Kenney has said the Department of Energy had entered into agreements with certain states to prioritize their nuclear waste disposal, KRQE reports the DOE has also sought to expand the definition of waste that could be disposed of at WIPP, which would lead to more waste being brought into New Mexico.