Town Loves Nuclear Waste Dump
C A R L S B A D, N.M., Nov. xxx -- The billboards along the highway twisting through the barren New Mexican desert announce the attraction in bold letters: "Visit the Carlsbad Caverns and Eat Lunch Underground!"
Ever since Calvin Coolidge was president, the Carlsbad Caverns have been a national tourist attraction, renowned for ancient subterranean stalagmites and stalactites. Now there's another underground attraction here that is generating even more notoriety, more jobs and more money.
Buried 2,200 feet below the surface, the Department of Energy has created the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, or WIPP as it's known. It is the nation's first underground nuclear waste dump, a $2.5 billion repository for old tools, equipment, clothing, and rags contaminated by plutonium at federal defense facilities.
Helping the Local Economy
What's surprising is that it's enormously popular here. Mayor Bob Forrest says the facility "enjoys a 95 percent approval rating in Carlsbad."
Jobs are the reason. WIPP employs nearly 1,000 people. When local potash fertilizer plants began going out of business, WIPP stepped in and offered high-paying jobs complete with benefits.
David Brannan, who worked in the potash mines for 34 years, says his new job has enabled him to finally buy a fancy, new motorcycle. "Since coming out here, I can kind of go beyond a little bit and enjoy some of the fruits of my labor," he said.
WIPP also spends more than $70 million on local goods and services every year. At Phil Carrel's Chevrolet dealership, new Corvettes and Suburbans are sold to high-paying administrators and scientists at WIPP.
"I'd say 25 to 30 percent of our sales go to WIPP employees or their families," said Carrel.
The head of the University of New Mexico's local campus, Mel Vuk says it "was like Christmas" when the project came to town three years ago. He's been able to hire part-time instructors who are specialists working at WIPP. "It's a win-win," he said. "They teach, we use their skills, and it doesn't bankrupt us in the process."
Campaigning for the site was not difficult. But the mayor denies the town looks the other way when it comes to safety concerns. "Of course we look like country bumpkins that want to do anything to create a job," he said. "But that wasn't the case. I'll go to my grave believing that we did the right thing."
Critics: 'There Will be Accidents'
Not everyone is sure. The plutonium contaminated waste will remain radioactive for 250,000 years and some critics believe sooner or later an accident is inevitable.
"There will be accidents," said Don Hancock of the Southwest Research and Information Center. "There will be accidents that will cause releases. We don't know when they will occur, we don't know where they will occur, and we don't know how bad the releases will be."
DOE officials counter that fear by pointing out that most of the waste emits such low levels of radiation it could be stopped by single sheet of paper or an inch of air.
Still they are taking no chances. Security is extremely tight at the facility. The waste is stored in elaborate containers that are deposited in salt caves which over time are expected to form a tight seal around the entombed waste. Unlike the famous Carlsbad Caverns, there are no billboards announcing the location of the facility which is two dozen miles out of town.