Scheduled Re-Entry at New Mexico Nuclear Waste Plant Delayed
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iStockphoto/Thinkstock(CARLSBAD, N.M.) — Workers were unable to re-enter the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad on Tuesday as scheduled due to an equipment delay.
The radiation monitors that the personnel entering the plant are expected to wear were not received in time to enter the plant’s mines on Tuesday. The re-entry would have been the first since the plant was shut down following a February radiation leak.
Eight workers had been expected to establish a safe base of operations, conduct radiation surveys and check for airborne contamination.
The plant had been in operation for 15 years and allows for the permanent disposal of nuclear waste in salt mines over 2,000 feet below the earth’s surface. In February, prior to the initial radiation leak, the plant had suffered a vehicle fire in the underground mines.
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