Nuclear Waste

The Energy Department (DOE) hopes to begin disposal of nuclear waste in New Mexico in 1998 but first must obtain a certificate of compliance with regulations for disposal of radioactive waste from the Environmental Protection Agency. Because of unresolved issues involving this certificate, GAO believes that the prospects for opening the waste isolation pilot plant by the target date are uncertain. Looking farther into the future, DOE estimates that it will cost about $11 billion over several decades to develop and operate the facilities and equipment needed to prepare transuranic waste for shipment to and disposal in the plant. DOE also plans to spend nearly $8 billion on waste transportation and disposal operations at the plant over a 35-year period. How soon these facilities will be up and running will depend in great measure on DOE's ability to obtain funding in a period of budgetary constraints. Delays in developing these facilities could force DOE to extend the period for shipping the waste to the plant and store the waste in the repository beyond 35 years. Each additional year it takes to place waste at the plant could cost about $130 million.

GAO found that: (1) it is uncertain whether DOE can accomplish all of the work needed to comply with the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) regulations for disposing of transuranic waste at WIPP by April 1998; (2) before DOE can submit an application for a certificate of compliance to EPA, it must resolve various scientific issues; (3) due to the lack of available transportation containers and equipment at the storage sites for preparing waste for shipment and disposal, DOE will have limited disposal capability for the first several years of WIPP operations; (4) DOE does not expect to start disposing of remote-handled waste until 2002; and (5) it will cost DOE an estimated $11 billion over the next several decades to increase the rate at which it emplaces transuranic waste in WIPP.