New Mexico is escalating its standoff with the U.S. Department of Energy over a backlog of legacy waste at Los Alamos National Laboratory dating from the 1940s through the 1990s, the New Mexico Environment Department said in a news release. State officials say the backlog raises the risk of storage failures, and some of the waste remains buried in unlined pits above the regional drinking water aquifer, raising the risk of long-term contamination.
The federal plan largely depended on shipping the waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, or WIPP, near Carlsbad, the nation’s only permanent disposal facility for transuranic nuclear waste. But the New Mexico Environment Department says cleanup schedules have slipped repeatedly, even as shipments from other states moved ahead. Environment Secretary James Kenney said the Department of Energy “has failed to meet the Environment Department’s requirements” to clean up the waste and prioritize its disposal at WIPP.
State regulators issued compliance orders and nearly $16 million in fines against the Department of Energy over violations at the lab. The Department of Energy disputed the state’s characterization, saying it is advancing legacy cleanup at Los Alamos and remains committed to public safety, efficiency and transparency, Source NM reported. The state also pointed to Idaho National Laboratory, which sent five times as much waste to WIPP as Los Alamos from 2021 through 2025.
The conflict highlights the limits of federal authority when states regulate. Washington controls the nation’s nuclear weapons complex, but New Mexico holds substantial power over environmental permits and compliance, and WIPP’s limited capacity has intensified competition for space.
Editor’s note: Updated Oct. 31, 2026. This story was revised to cite the New Mexico Environment Department news release it is based on. Learn how Brant.One reports in our editorial standards.
