Nuclear waste plans blocked.A federal district judge last week issued a permanent injunction permanent injunction n. a final order of a court that a person or entity refrain from certain activities permanently or take certain actions (usually to correct a nuisance) until completed. blocking the Department of Energy's (DOE's) plans to begin shipping nuclear waste to an underground storage facility in southeastern New Mexico. Judge John Garrett Penn ruled that DOE must obtain authorization from both Congress and the state of New Mexico before opening the $1 billion Waste Isolation Pilot Plant The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, or WIPP, is the world's first underground repository licensed to safely and permanently dispose of transuranic radioactive waste that is left from the research and production of nuclear weapons. (WIPP WIPP Waste Isolation Pilot Plant WIPP Women Impacting Public Policy WIPP Waste Isolation Pilot Project WiPP Working in Partnership Programme (UK; NHS General Medical Services) WIPP Wireless Internet Protocol Partnership ). Last October, after years of delays, the department said it would start placing waste in WIPP, but New Mexico won a preliminary injunction A temporary order made by a court at the request of one party that prevents the other party from pursuing a particular course of conduct until the conclusion of a trial on the merits. A preliminary injunction is regarded as extraordinary relief. preventing the waste shipments (SN: 1/18/92, p.44). In last week's decision, Judge Penn ruled that DOE had not properly assumed control of the WIPP site from the Interior Department. In effect, the decision requires that DOE seek a congressional land transfer. The judge also ruled that DOE must obtain a hazardous waste Hazardous waste Any solid, liquid, or gaseous waste materials that, if improperly managed or disposed of, may pose substantial hazards to human health and the environment. Every industrial country in the world has had problems with managing hazardous wastes. permit from New Mexico, because the waste contains both hazardous and radioactive materials generated during nuclear bomb production. Such requirements would significantly delay WIPP's opening. New Mexico sill require at least a year, and perhaps two years, to evaluate DOE's permit request, says Kay Roybal, a spokeswoman for New Mexico Attorney General Tom Udall. DOE plans to appeal the federal court's decision. |
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