The government has been discarding plutonium waste, which on its own isn’t horribly radioactive, in the salt beds beneath New Mexico for years.
The government has been discarding plutonium waste, which on its own isn’t horribly radioactive, in the salt beds beneath New Mexico for years.
Satisfied with those results, the area, officially known as the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, is being considered for the burial of significantly more toxic nuclear waste.
Currently the plutonium waste is buried in salt beds half a mile deep that seals it at an annual rate of 6 inches.
Engineers have assigned the total encapsulation period as millions of years, while a tour guide at the salt mines described it as ‘eternity’.
Previous attempts to have more radioactive nuclear waste materials buried in Nevada about 100 miles outside of Las Vegas proved unsuccessful as the state vehemently opposed it.
New Mexico seems significantly more receptive to the plan.
The Head of the Nuclear Opportunities Task Force sees it as a much-needed boost for the local rural economy.
Further, an area reverend said, "this facility has the opportunity to give a blessing to the world by having a safe repository."
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