By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The U.S. government’s nuclear waste repository in New Mexico has major issues infire trainingand firefighting vehicles, with its fleet in disrepair after years of neglect, according to an investigation by the U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Inspector General.
The调查was spurred by allegations regarding fire protection concerns at the repository, which is the backbone of a multibillion-dollar effort to clean up Cold War-era waste from past nuclear research and bomb making at national laboratories and defense sites across the U.S.
Investigators noted that the issues with the fire department training program went back to at least 2016. They pointed to an undeveloped training curriculum for the technical rescue program and claims by firefighters that their training needs weren’t being met.
根据督察一般的报告，持续存在的问题是因为承包商管理储存库的内部评估旨在解决缺陷的先前内部评估不充分讨论和封闭。该报告还归咎于能源部门官员的监督不足。
“WIPP has experienced growth with the number of buildings and employees since 2006 and is anticipated to operate beyond 2050. The next management and operating contractor must be able to provide effective emergency response at WIPP to protect lives, property and the environment,” the Office of Inspector General stated.
Energy Department officials in a response to the inspector general said the agency has followed through with corrective actions and will continue to “’make progress on ensuring local fire departments and first responders have all necessary training and equipment to handle any event in relation to WIPP’s operations.”
Still, agency officials acknowledged there was more work to do.
安全问题是新墨西哥哥·米歇尔·卢泉格里希姆和其他人声音反对派扩展可以运送到存储库的放射性废物类型。在本月发给美国能源秘书Jennifer Granholm的一封信中一项名称民主党州长指出，有关缺乏从联邦官员缺乏有意义的公众参与的废物清理，货运和长远计划的令人沮丧的挫败感。
Just this month,the work of processing incoming waste shipments was temporarily haltedafter workers discovered radioactive liquid in a container sent from the Idaho National Laboratory.
The latest来自联邦监督委员会的报告also cited three recent incidents, including one in which a container from Los Alamos National Laboratory was placed underground without adequate analysis for its flammability. The container ended up posing no risk.
Nuclear Waste Partnership, the contractor that manages the repository, expanded its fire brigade to a department with full-time emergency responders following two emergencies in 2014. One was a fire involving a salt-hauling truck that was followed days later by a radiation release from a drum that had been inappropriately packed at Los Alamos.
事件促使与国家清理计划有关的重大政策和程序溢出。
据督察将军表示，2019年审查发现，近一半的储存库的消防员尚未参加至少一年的现场培训，有些人没有参加过两年。4月2021年4月的另一项审查发现，并非所有消防员培训记录都按照国家环境部门发布的危险废物许可证维护。
在采访中，一些消防员告诉调查人员，大多数培训是基于网络的，而不是实际的消防训练，车辆导航或绳索训练。消防员表示关切的是，没有足够的培训，他们会失去技能。
As for the fire department’s fleet, federal officials said they were in the process of revising maintenance procedures and that about $1.2 million was spent to purchase two new fire trucks in 2021.
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