Recent monthly reports by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board relate
disturbing stories about near-miss operational incidents in the fifth shaft, under
construction, at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The underground federal
radioactive waste disposal site is located 2,150 feet below ground surface in a salt
formation almost 30 miles east of Carlsbad, New Mexico. The Board has reported
broken cables, misaligned transport platforms for workers to reach the underground,
and workers stuck in the new shaft.
