ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico: In a remote stretch of New Mexico desert, the US government put in motion an experiment aimed at proving to the world that radioactive waste could be safely disposed of deep underground, rendering it less of a threat to the environment.
Twenty years and more than 12,380 shipments later, tons of Cold War-era waste from decades of bomb-making and nuclear research across the US have been stashed in the salt caverns that make up the underground facility. Each week, several shipments of special boxes and barrels packed with lab coats, rubber gloves, tools and debris contaminated with plutonium and other radioactive elements are trucked to the site.
But the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant has not been without issues.
A 2014 radiation leak forced an expensive, nearly three-year closure, delayed the federal government’s cleanup program and prompted policy changes at national laboratories and defense-related sites across the US More recently, the US Department of Energy said it would investigate reports that workers may have been exposed last year to hazardous chemicals.
Still, supporters consider the repository a success, saying it provides a viable option for dealing with a multibillion-dollar mess that stretches from a decommissioned nuclear weapons production site in Washington state to one of the nation’s top nuclear research labs, in Idaho, and locations as far east as South Carolina.
If it weren’t for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, many containers of plutonium-contaminated waste would be outside, exposed to the weather and susceptible to natural disasters, said J.R. Stroble, head of business operations at the Department of Energy’s Carlsbad Field Office, which oversees the contractor that operates the repository.
“The whole purpose of WIPP is to isolate this long-lived radioactive, hazardous waste from the accessible environment, from people and the things people need in order to live life on Earth,” he told The Associated Press.
Stroble and others in the communities surrounding the repository are steadfast in their conviction that the facility is a success. They point to 22 sites around the nation that have been cleaned up as a result of having somewhere to put the waste — including Rocky Flats, a former nuclear weapons plant outside Denver that had a history of leaks, spills and other violations.
For critics, that success is checkered at best since the repository is far from fulfilling its mission.
“It’s 80 percent through its lifetime, and it has disposed of less than 40 percent of the waste and has cost more than twice as much as it was supposed to,” said Don Hancock with the watchdog group Southwest Research and Information Center. “How great of a success is that?“
Officials initially thought the facility would operate for about 25 years. Rather than wrapping up in the next few years, managers have bumped the timeline to 2050.
The repository was carved out of an ancient salt formation about a half-mile (0.8 kilometer) below the surface, with the idea that the shifting salt would eventually entomb the radioactive waste.
It was the National Academy of Sciences in the 1950s that first recommended disposing of atomic waste in deep geologic formations. Scientists began taking a hard look at the New Mexico site about two decades later.
The scientists had to convince themselves and then federal regulators that it was safe. One of their tasks was determining that the ancient seawater trapped between the salt crystals and bound up in thin bands of clay within the salt deposit would pose no problems thousands of years later.
“It was exciting to be working on what was then going to be the world’s first deep-geologic repository for that class of waste,” said Peter Swift, a senior scientist at Sandia National Laboratories. “Nothing that radioactive had been put that deep underground before. And that’s still true 20 years later.”
While the real test will be what happens generations from now, Swift is confident in the science behind the project.
But the wild card in whether the repository is ultimately deemed a success will be the human factor. After all, missteps by management were blamed for the 2014 radiation release.
With some areas permanently sealed off due to contamination, more mining will have to be done to expand capacity. The federal government also is spending more than a half-billion dollars to install a new ventilation system, sink more shafts and make other upgrades aimed at returning to “normal business.”
Hancock and some former elected leaders involved in early discussions about the facility worry about the subterranean landfill becoming a dumping ground for high-level waste or commercial nuclear waste.
But it would take an act of Congress to expand the repository’s mission, and getting consent from New Mexico’s delegates would be a tall order since the federal government still has no long-term plan for dealing with such waste. Nevada’s proposed Yucca Mountain project is mothballed, and no other permanent disposal proposals are on the table.
Toney Anaya, who served as New Mexico governor in the 1980s, remembers the heated debates about bringing more radioactive waste to the state. He said there were concerns about safety, but the promise of jobs was attractive. Some also argued New Mexico had a moral obligation given its legacy of uranium mining and its role in the development of the atomic bomb.
Another former governor, Bill Richardson, was on both sides of the tug of war — first as a young Democratic congressman who wanted to impose environmental standards and keep 18-wheelers loaded with waste from passing through the heart of Santa Fe. Then, he became US energy secretary during the Clinton administration and pressured the state to clear the way for the repository to open.
“For New Mexico, we’ve done our share of storing waste, and we’ve done it safely and effectively,” Richardson said. “It’s provided jobs, but I just think the future of the state is not nuclear.”
Southeastern New Mexico’s ties to nuclear run deep and will continue for at least the next 30 years under the plans being charted now.
Robust state regulation will be key in ensuring responsible management going forward, said Hancock, with the watchdog group. The problem, he said, is that besides the Cold War-era waste that has yet to be dealt with, the federal government and nuclear power plants keep generating more.
“We need to decide what our capacities are actually going to be — how much nuclear power waste are we going to create, how much nuclear weapons waste are we going to create — so that we can then put our arms around the problem,” Hancock said.
First-of-its-kind US nuclear waste dump marks 20 years
First-of-its-kind US nuclear waste dump marks 20 years
- More than 12,380 shipments of waste from decades of bomb-making and nuclear research across the US have been stashed in the the underground facility
- Supporters consider the repository a success, although a 2014 radiation leak forced an expensive, nearly three-year closure
Croatia populist president re-elected in landslide
- It was the highest score achieved by a presidential candidate since the former Yugoslav republic’s independence in 1991
ZAGREB: Croatia’s populist President Zoran Milanovic was re-elected in a landslide, defeating his conservative rival in Sunday’s run-off, official results showed.
Milanovic took more than 74 percent of the vote and Dragan Primorac, backed by the center-right HDZ party that governs Croatia, almost 26 percent, with nearly all the votes counted.
It was the highest score achieved by a presidential candidate since the former Yugoslav republic’s independence in 1991.
While the role of the president is largely ceremonial in Croatia, Milanovic’s wide victory is the latest setback for the HDZ and Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic — Milanovic’s political arch-rival — after a high-profile corruption affair in November.
“Croatia, thank you!,” Milanovic told his supporters who gathered at a Zagreb art and music club to celebrate his success.
“I see this victory as a recognition of my work in the last five years and a plebiscite message from Croatian people to those who should hear it,” he said in a reference to the HDZ-led government.
The outspoken Milanovic, backed by the left-wing opposition, won more than 49 percent of the vote in the contest’s first round two weeks ago — narrowly missing an outright victory.
Turnout Sunday was nearly 44 percent, slightly lower than in the first round, the electoral commission said.
The vote was held as the European Union member nation of 3.8 million people struggles with the highest inflation rate in the eurozone, endemic corruption and a labor shortage.
Even with its limited roles, many Croatians see the presidency as key to providing a political balance by preventing one party from holding all the levers of power.
Croatia has been mainly governed by the HDZ since independence.
The party “has too much control and Plenkovic is transforming into an autocrat,” Mia, a 35-year-old administrator from Zagreb who declined to give her last name, told AFP explaining her support for the incumbent.
Milanovic, a former left-wing prime minister, won the presidency in 2020 with the backing of the main opposition Social Democrats (SDP) party.
A key figure in the country’s political scene for nearly two decades, he has increasingly employed offensive, populist rhetoric during frequent attacks aimed at EU and local officials.
“Milanovic is a sort of a political omnivore,” political analyst Zarko Puhovski told AFP, saying the president was largely seen as the “only, at least symbolic, counterbalance to the government and Plenkovic’s power.”
His no-holds-barred speaking style has sent Milanovic’s popularity soaring and helped attract the backing of right-wing supporters.
Earlier Sunday, after voting in Zagreb, Milanovic criticized Brussels as “in many ways autocratic and non-representative,” run by officials who are not elected.
The 58-year-old also regularly pans the HDZ over the party’s perennial problems with corruption, while also referring to Plenkovic as “Brussels’ clerk.”
Primorac, a former education and science minister returning to politics after a 15-year absence, has campaigned as a unifier for Croatia. The 59-year-old also insisted on patriotism and family values.
“With my program, I wanted to send a clear message that Croatia can and deserves better,” he told supporters on Sunday evening as the official results confirmed his crushing defeat.
But critics were saying Primorac lacked political charisma and failed to rally the HDZ base behind him.
He accused Milanovic of being a “pro-Russian puppet” who has undermined Croatia’s credibility in NATO and the European Union.
Milanovic condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but has also criticized the West’s military support for Kyiv.
He is also a prominent opponent of a program that would have seen Croatian soldiers help train Ukrainian troops in Germany.
“The defense of democracy is not to tell everyone who doesn’t think like you that he’s a ‘Russian player’,” Milanovic told reporters on Sunday.
Such a communication style is “in fact totalitarian,” he added.
Meanwhile, young Croatians voiced frustration over lack of discussion among political leaders over the issues that interest them, such as housing or students’ standard of living.
“We hear them (politicians) talking mostly about old, recycled issues. What’s important to young people doesn’t even cross their minds,” student Ivana Vuckovic, 20, told AFP.
What to know about the devastation from the Los Angeles-area fires
- The California Department of Education released a statement Wednesday saying 335 schools from Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside, Ventura, and San Diego counties were closed
- About 150,000 people were under evacuation orders with more than 700 taking refuge in nine shelters, officials said
LOS ANGELES: Fires ripping through the Los Angeles area have killed at least 16 people, displaced thousands of others and destroyed more than 12,000 structures while burning through an area larger than the city of San Francisco.
The blazes started last Tuesday, fueled by fierce Santa Ana winds that forecasters expect to kick back up through at least midweek. Cal Fire reported the Palisades, Eaton, Kenneth and Hurst fires had consumed about 62 square miles (160 square kilometers).
Five deaths were attributed to the Palisades Fire along the coast and 11 deaths resulted from the Eaton Fire further inland, the LA County medical examiner’s office said. At least 16 people were missing, and authorities said that number was expected to rise.
While a cause for the fires has yet to be determined, early estimates indicate they could be the nation’s costliest ever. Preliminary estimates by AccuWeather put the damage and economic losses at between $135 billion and $150 billion.
Here’s a closer look at what to know about the fires.
Thousands remain evacuated or without power
The flames have threatened and burned through several highly populated neighborhoods over the past week, including Pacific Palisades, Altadena and others.
About 150,000 people were under evacuation orders with more than 700 taking refuge in nine shelters, officials said.
Cal Fire reported containment of the Palisades Fire at 11 percent and the Eaton Fire at 27 percent on Sunday.
The Kenneth Fire, which broke out near West Hills in the San Fernando Valley, was 100 percent contained as of Sunday morning, while the Hurst Fire was 89 percent contained.
Nearly 70,000 customers were without power across California as of Sunday morning, more than half of them in Los Angeles County, according to PowerOutage.us, which tracks outages nationwide.
Sewer, water and power infrastructure across the region has been significantly damaged, officials said.
The National Weather Service warned that strong Santa Ana winds could soon return and issued red flag warnings for severe fire conditions through Wednesday. The winds have been largely blamed for turning the wildfires into infernos that leveled entire neighborhoods around the city where there has been no significant rainfall in over eight months.
Thousands have fled and many have lost their homes, including Hollywood stars Billy Crystal and Mandy Moore and Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick.
The fires have scorched more than just landmarks and celebrity homes
While the fires have reduced a number of celebrity mansions and movie landmarks to ashes, they also burned through a haven in Altadena for generations of Black families avoiding discriminatory housing practices elsewhere. They have been communities of racial and economic diversity, where many people own their own homes.
The fires have destroyed several places of worship, including a mosque, a synagogue, a Catholic parish and a half-dozen Protestant churches.
Investigators are studying the cause of the fires
No cause has been determined yet for the fires.
Lightning is the most common source of fires in the US, according to the National Fire Protection Association, but investigators quickly ruled that out. There were no reports of lightning in the Palisades area or the terrain around the Eaton Fire, which started in east Los Angeles County.
The next two most common causes are fires intentionally set and those sparked by utility lines.
Several events have been canceled and postponed
The Critics Choice Awards rescheduled Sunday ceremonies in Santa Monica for Jan. 26.
The organization that puts on the Oscars extended the voting window for Academy Award nominations and delayed next week’s planned nominations announcement.
The NFL moved the Los Angeles Rams’ wild-card playoff game against the Minnesota Vikings to Arizona because of the fires. The game will be played Monday night. And the NBA postponed the Lakers’ game against the Hornets.
NBA games are scheduled to return to Los Angeles on Monday night, with the Clippers hosting the Miami Heat and the Lakers set to host the San Antonio Spurs. It’ll be the Clippers’ first game in five days after having their home game against Charlotte on Saturday postponed. The Lakers had two home games pushed back.
The California Department of Education released a statement Wednesday saying 335 schools from Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside, Ventura, and San Diego counties were closed. It was unclear how many would be closed Monday.
Accusations of leadership failures are percolating
LA Mayor Karen Bass faces a critical test of her leadership during the city’s greatest crisis in decades, but allegations of leadership failures, political blame and investigations have begun.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday ordered state officials to determine why a 117 million-gallon (440 million-liter) reservoir was out of service and some hydrants had run dry.
Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said city leadership failed her department by not providing enough money for firefighting. She also criticized the lack of water.
Sweden ‘not at war, but not at peace either’: PM
- In September 2022, a series of underwater blasts ruptured the Nord Stream pipelines that carried Russian gas to Europe, the cause of which has yet to be determined
STOCKHOLM: Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said Sunday his country was not at war but not living in peacetime either, citing hybrid attacks, suspected sabotage in the Baltic Sea and a proxy war fought on its soil.
Several underwater telecom and power cables have been severed in the Baltic Sea in recent months in incidents that experts and politicians say are part of hybrid war actions orchestrated by Russia.
“Sweden is not at war, but there is not peace either. Real peace means freedom and no serious conflicts between countries,” he told the annual Folk och Forsvar defense forum in Salen in central Sweden.
“We and our neighboring countries are subjected to hybrid attacks that are not carried out with missiles and soldiers but with computers, money, disinformation and threats of sabotage,” he said.
“The security situation and the fact that strange things keep happening in the Baltic Sea lead us to believe that hostile intentions cannot be ruled out,” he said.
On December 25, the Estlink 2 electricity cable and four telecom cables linking Finland and Estonia were damaged, just weeks after two telecom cables in Swedish waters of the Baltic Sea were severed on November 17-18.
Tensions have mounted around the Baltic Sea since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
In September 2022, a series of underwater blasts ruptured the Nord Stream pipelines that carried Russian gas to Europe, the cause of which has yet to be determined.
In October 2023, an undersea gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia was shut down after it was damaged by the anchor of a Chinese cargo ship.
Kristersson did not single out any one country as responsible for the damaged cables.
But speaking more generally about hybrid threats in the region, he said: “The Russian threat is very likely long-term. As our defense must be.”
He said the Swedish government was “taking this seriously.”
Kristersson also noted that Sweden was living “in the age of proxy wars.”
“Iran is using violent organized criminal gangs in Sweden to carry out serious attacks in our country by proxy.”
Sweden’s intelligence service Sapo in May accused Iran of recruiting Swedish criminal gang members, some of them children, as proxies to commit “acts of violence” against Israeli and other interests in the Scandinavian country.
UK PM Starmer to outline plan to make Britain world leader in AI
- Britain is the third-largest AI market in the world behind the US and China
LONDON: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will say on Monday he wants the UK to become the world leader for artificial intelligence, promising to create special zones for data centers and encouraging more graduates to study technology-focused courses.
Starmer will say he wants to put AI at the heart of his ambition to grow the economy, while the government will claim if the technology is fully adopted it could increase productivity by 1.5 percent a year, worth an extra 47 billion pounds ($57 billion), annually over a decade.
Ahead of a speech in London by Starmer on AI, the government said it will adopt all the 50 recommendations set out in the report “AI Opportunities Action Plan” by venture capitalist Matt Clifford, submitted to the government last year.
This includes making it easier to build data centers by accelerating planning permission and giving them energy connections. The first such center will be built in Culham, Oxfordshire, home to Britain’s Atomic Energy Authority.
“Our plan will make Britain the world leader,” Starmer was quoted as saying in a statement issued by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. “That means more jobs and investment in the UK, more money in people’s pockets.”
Countries across the world are competing to turn their countries into AI hubs, while balancing the need for some restrictions on the technology.
Britain is the third-largest AI market in the world behind the US and China, when measured by indicators such as investment and patents, according to Stanford University.
However, the Labour government’s decision to set out the highest tax-raising budget since 1993 has damaged some business confidence and the Bank of England estimated last month that the economy did not grow in the last quarter.
Starmer will say on Monday that AI has the power to transform the lives of people, including speeding up planning consultations, helping small businesses, and driving down admin for teachers so they can concentrate on teaching.
“And in a world of fierce competition, we cannot stand by,” he will say. “We must move fast and take action.”
Zelensky says he’s ready to exchange N. Korean soldiers for Ukrainians held in Russia
KYIV: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday Kyiv is ready to hand over North Korean soldiers to their leader Kim Jong Un if he can organize their exchange for Ukrainians held captive in Russia.
“In addition to the first captured soldiers from North Korea, there will undoubtedly be more. It’s only a matter of time before our troops manage to capture others,” Zelensky said on the social media platform X.
Zelensky said on Saturday that Ukraine had captured two North Korean soldiers in Russia’s Kursk region, the first time Ukraine has announced the capture of North Korean soldiers alive since their entry into the nearly three-year-old war last autumn.
Ukrainian and Western assessments say that some 11,000 troops from Russia’s ally North Korea have been deployed in the Kursk region to support Moscow’s forces. Russia has neither confirmed nor denied their presence.
Zelensky has said Russian and North Korean forces had suffered heavy losses.
“Ukraine is ready to hand over Kim Jong Un’s soldiers to him if he can organize their exchange for our warriors who are being held captive in Russia,” Zelensky said.
Zelensky posted a short video showing the interrogation of two men who are presented as North Korean soldiers. One of them is lying on a bed with bandaged hands, the other is sitting with a bandage on his jaw.
One of the men said through an interpreter that he did not know he was fighting against Ukraine and had been told he was on a training exercise.
He said he hid in a shelter during the offensive and was found a couple of days later. He said that if he was ordered to return to North Korea, he would, but said he was ready to stay in Ukraine if given the chance.
Reuters could not verify the video.
Zelensky said that for those North Korean soldiers who did not wish to return home, there may be other options available and “those who express a desire to bring peace closer by spreading the truth about this war in the Korean (language) will be given that opportunity.”
Zelensky provided no specific details.
