Comment for the New Mexico Environment Department’s “Record of the WIPP Agency-Initiated
Modification Draft Permit of April 23, 2026”
(The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant – WIPP – which takes DOE’s plutonium waste ( TRU) – is located near Carsland, New Mexico & the state has a say into what goes into WIPP. Plutonium pit waste is new waste, not “legacy waste” from the Cold War, so New Mexico is balking at accepting DOE’s endless stream of non-legacy TRU from out-of-state pit production, meaning SRS.)
DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) released the “Draft Plutonium Pit Production
Draft Programmatic Environmental Impacts Statement” (DOE/EIS-0573) on April 10, 2026. (at
https://www.energy.gov/nepa/articles/doeeis-0573-draft-environmental-impact-statement-april-2026)
The Draft PEIS “evaluates potential impacts of continuous pit production over the next 50 years.” It is my
organization’s position that no new pit production is needed and that pit reuse must be seriously
considered and reviews of such as well as pit aging must be made part of the PEIS record.
The Draft EIS assume a base rate of 30 pits per year at Los Alamos and a surge production rate of 80 pits
per year at Los Alamos and 50 pits per year as a base rate and 125 pits per year as a surge at the
Savannah River Site in South Carolina. NNSA has presented no justification for production of over 80 pits
per year, especially the production rate of 205 pits per year, which would also mean a large increase of
TRU waste over the base production rates.
Estimated TRU waste volumes generated from pit production are presented in “Table S.3-6 Combined
Estimates of Radioactive Waste Quantities” (page S-30). For the range of 80 ppy to 205 ppy, the amount
of TRU generated would be 739–1,399 cubic meters per year. SRS TRU waste would make up about
50/80ths to 125/205ths of those TRU amounts.
The TRU produced by new plutonium pit production for new nuclear warheads is not “legacy TRU” as
NMED has defined. Disposal of non-legacy TRU from pit production, especially at SRS, could place at risk
the disposal of legitimate LANL legacy TRU in WIPP.
full comment posted here: Comment to NMED by SRS Watch on modified permit April 23 2026
New Mexico Environment Department – WIPP permit modification
WIPP News
www.env.nm.gov/hazardous-waste/wipp/
2026
April 23, 2026 – NMED is issuing a Public Notice announcing a Draft Permit for public comment for an Agency-Initiated Modification (AIM). The 45-day AIM Draft Permit public comment period begins today and will end on Monday, June 8, 2026 at 5:00 PM MT. The AIM Draft Permit, Public Notice, Fact Sheet, and other information are provided below.
- 2026-04-22 – AIM NMED Letter to Permittees [AR 260418]
- 2026-04-23 – AIM Draft Permit [AR 260419]
- 2026-04-23 – AIM Public Notice in English/Español [AR 260420]
- 2026-04-23 – AIM Fact Sheet in English/Español [AR 260421]
- 2026-04-23 – AIM News Release [AR 260423]
See Public Notice or Fact Sheet above for information on how to comment by email or postal mail, or use our NMED Public Comment Portal. Please click on this link and fill out your comment:
WIPP AIM Draft Permit Public Comment Portal
Please submit your comment by 5PM MT on Monday, June 8, 2026.