WGA Testifies on WIPP Transportation Safety Program, Lessons Learned

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 1, 2011

Contact:  Alex Schroeder, 303-623-9378 ext.112

DENVER -- At a recent meeting of the President's Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future, the Western Governors' Association provided remarks on the lessons learned from the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Transportation Safety Program.

Alex Schroeder, WGA's program director for radioactive waste transportation, stressed the need for an early and clearly defined role for states in transportation planning.

"With WIPP, the regional planning process enabled the state-federal relationship to transform from polarization to a partnership, and the positive results cannot  be understated,"  Schroeder said.  "As the governors expressed in their May 2010 letter to Energy Secretary Steven Chu, it will be critical for this Commission to adequately define the role of the states in its recommendations so as not to undermine their effectiveness and public acceptability.

"As part of those recommendations, transportation should not be an afterthought to any decision to dispose of or otherwise store radioactive materials, but should instead be integral to that decision."

Following is a summary of WGA's remarks.

WGA's Experience in the Development of the WIPP Transportation Safety Program

Western states have been working together for nearly 30 years on issues related to radioactive waste transportation and have developed bipartisan policies on a number of topics that this Committee will be considering. Specific to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the governors have a Memorandum of Agreement with the Secretary of Energy for the transportation of transuranic waste to WIPP and have a long-standing cooperative agreement with the Department of Energy to ensure the implementation of the stringent and comprehensive protocols outlined in WGA's WIPP Transportation Safety Program Implementation Guide.

The procedures in the WIPP Guide are tested nearly every day, and results are evident in the more than 9,000 shipments of transuranic waste that have been safely transported to New Mexico. The success of this program provides important insights and lessons learned that should be incorporated into future high-volume campaigns involving radioactive materials.

 

Key Lessons Learned from the WIPP Transportation Program at the Regional Level

The success of the WIPP program is a tribute to officials from all levels of government working together both early and often. Federal and state officials began substantive discussions on transportation planning 13 years prior to the first shipment arriving at WIPP.

It is the view of Western governors that this early coordination and the regional planning process used to develop the WIPP transportation safety program is necessary to develop a successful transportation program that incorporates a high level of safety and fosters public trust.

Now that the shipment protocols have been successfully implemented, the continued success of the WIPP transportation safety program is dependent on vigilance and support for the program at the highest level of government.  Finally, consistent and adequate funding to the states is essential to ensure adequate participation in planning and preparing for shipments.

 

Parallels from the WIPP Experience to the Transportation of Spent Fuel and High-Level Waste

In addition to these lessons learned, the WIPP transportation safety program provides a number of specific parallels to be applied to a campaign for transporting spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste.

The WIPP transportation safety program was explicitly designed to be extra-regulatory. The governors believe that the principles in the WIPP Guide should serve as the basis for future efforts on planning high-visibility shipments. At the same time, there are also key differences between the WIPP experience and what this Commission will be.  For example, the involvement of commercial interests introduces a layer of complexity that was not addressed in WIPP because shipments occurred between DOE sites.

The prospect of shipments by rail also introduces a number of issues that potentially limit the implementation of several of the WIPP protocols as they currently exist. During the period in which rail shipments to WIPP were considered, the states encountered strong resistance from at least some rail carriers to working cooperatively with the states to develop specific procedures and protocols. This indicated the need for the federal government to build specific conditions within its rail contracts to ensure that state concerns are addressed.

For more information abut WGA's WIPP management program, visit www.westgov.org.
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