WIPP regulatory documents are legal documents that explain and support EPA's decision to certify that the Department of Energy has met EPA's criteria for opening the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). All documents related to EPA's compliance decision are available through the EPA WIPP Docket A-93-02.

Electronic versions of related documents are accessible below when available. Please contact Ray Lee, Docket Coordinator for additional information. 

• Fact Sheet: EPA’s Continuing Regulation of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (PDF)(2 pp, 44 K, May 1998, 402-F-98-005)
  EPA will continue to have an oversight role at the WIPP to ensure that it continues to protect human health and the environment. This fact sheet discusses this role.
• Fact Sheet: EPA’s Final Certification Decision for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (PDF)(3 pp, 47 K, May 1998, 402-F-98-002)
  The WIPP is the nation's first deep underground facility for disposing of transuranic waste generated from defense activities. DOE is developing the WIPP in southeastern New Mexico, near Carlsbad, approximately 2,100 feet underground in excavated, natural salt formations. This fact sheet provides information about EPA's final certification decision in 1998.
• Response to Comments Document for 40 CFR Part 194: Criteria for the Certification and Re-Certification of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (PDF)(270 pp, 860 K)
  This document addresses comments received on the proposed regulations by summarizing the concerns expressed by commenters and presenting the Agency's response to the comments. All comments received during the initial comment period, during the re-opened comment period, and during the time between the two comment periods have been fully considered.
• Compliance Application Guidance for 40 CFR Part 194 (PDF)(85 pp, 709 K)
  This Compliance Application Guidance (CAG) is a companion to the EPA final rule published on February 9, 1996, 61 Fed. Reg. 5224-5245 (to be codified at 40 CFR part 194). The February 9, 1996 final rule establishes the binding ""compliance criteria"" that will govern EPA's certification, pursuant to section 8(d) of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Land Withdrawal Act (Pub. L. No. 102-579), of the WIPP facility's compliance with EPA's final radioactive waste disposal regulations (40 CFR par
• Compliance Application Review Documents (CARD) Introduction (PDF)(8 pp, 62 K)
  This document is composed of twenty one Compliance Application Review Documents (CARDs). The CARDs contain separate, individual analyses; they have been bound together solely for convenience.
• Card 14: Content of Compliance Certification Application (PDF)(86 pp, 740 K)
  The compliance application must include, at a minimum, basic information about the WIPP site and disposal system design, and must also address all the provisions of the compliance criteria. Section 194.14 lists those topics that DOE must discuss in the CCA.
• Card 22: Quality Assurance (PDF)(32 pp, 226 K)
  Quality assurance (QA) is a process for enhancing the reliability of the technical data and analyses underlying DOE''s Compliance Certification Application (CCA).
• Card 23: Models and Computer Code (PDF)(93 pp, 435 K)
  Section 194.23 addresses the compliance criteria requirements for conceptual models and computer codes.
• Card 24: Waste Characterization (PDF)(102 pp, 844 K)
  DOE must provide waste inventory information for use in performance assessments (PA), including the radionuclide content of waste and the physical and chemical components that may affect disposal system performance.
• Card 25: Future State Assumptions (PDF)(14 pp, 107 K)
  EPA's purpose in issuing the Compliance Criteria at 40 CFR 194.25 was to minimize the impact of inherently conjectural specifications of future states on the compliance application.
• Card 26: Expert Judgment (PDF)(9 pp, 99 K)
  The requirements of Section 194.26 apply to expert judgment elicitation, which is a process for obtaining data directly from experts in response to a technical problem.
• Card 27: Peer Review (PDF)(11 pp, 113 K)
  The Compliance Criteria require DOE to conduct peer review of certain elements of the WIPP so that others working in the field of radioactive waste disposal can confirm the adequacy of various decisions and interpretations made by DOE in its Compliance Certification Application (CCA) (61 FR 5228).
• Card 31: Application of Release Limits (PDF)(20 pp, 334 K)
  The containment requirements specify that releases from a disposal system to the accessible environment must not exceed the release limits set forth in Appendix A
• Card 32: Scope of Performance Assessments (PDF)(46 pp, 389 K)
  The radioactive waste disposal regulations at 40 CFR Part 191 include requirements for containment of radionuclides
• Card 33: Consideration of Drilling Events in Performance Assessments 33.A. (PDF)(31 pp, 290 K)
  The radioactive waste disposal regulations at 40 CFR Part 191 include requirements for the containment of radionuclides in a disposal system
• Card 34: Results of Performance Assessments (PDF)(29 pp, 305 K)
  The radioactive waste disposal regulations at 40 CFR Part 191 include requirements for containment of radionuclides. The containment requirements at Section 191.13 specify that releases from a disposal system to the accessible environment must not exceed the release limits set forth in Appendix A, Table 1, of 40 CFR Part 191.
• Card 41: Active Institutional Controls (PDF)(6 pp, 47 K)
  Controlling access to a disposal site by any means other than passive institutional controls
• Card 42: Monitoring (PDF)(24 pp, 652 K)
  Requirements for monitoring the disposal system during pre- and post-closure
• Card 43: Passive Institutional Controls (PDF)(47 pp, 406 K)
  Assurance requirements were included in the disposal regulations to compensate in a qualitative manner for the inherent uncertainties in projecting the behavior of natural and engineered components of the WIPP for many thousands of years (50 FR 38072).
• Card 44: Engineered Barriers (PDF)(36 pp, 361 K)
  Consistent with the containment requirement at Section 191.13, DOE must analyze the performance of the complete disposal system, and any engineered barrier(s) that DOE ultimately implements at the WIPP must be considered in this analysis and EPA's subsequent evaluation.
• Card 45: Consideration of the Presence of Resources (PDF)(4 pp, 52 K)
  Assurance requirements were included in the disposal regulations to compensate in a qualitative manner for the inherent uncertainties in projecting the behavior of natural and engineered components of the repository for many thousands of years (50 FR 38072). Section 194.45 is one of the assurance requirements in the Compliance Criteria.
• Card 46: Removal of Waste (PDF)(4 pp, 55 K)
  In reviewing information applicable to Section 194.46, EPA sought a description of DOE's strategy for removing the waste from the repository after disposal is complete.
• Card 51/52: Consideration of Protected Individual/Exposure Pathways (PDF)(11 pp, 125 K)
  The individual protection requirement focuses on the annual radiation dose of a maximally exposed hypothetical person living on the surface just outside the boundary to the accessible environment.
• Card 53: Consideration of Underground Sources of Drinking Water (PDF)(6 pp, 56 K)
  The individual and ground water protection requirements place limitations on both the potential radiation exposure of individuals and the possible levels of radioactive contamination of ground water due to disposal of waste in the WIPP.
• Card 54: Scope of Compliance Assessments (PDF)(17 pp, 198 K)
  The Compliance Criteria include two general categories of quantitative requirements on the performance of the WIPP that are intended to ensure its safety. The first category consists of the containment requirements at Section 194.34, which implement the general containment requirements of the radioactive waste disposal regulations, Section 191.13. The second category of quantitative requirements consists of the individual and ground water protection requirements, which implement Section 191.15.
• Card 55: Results of Compliance Assessments (PDF)(25 pp, 331 K)
  Section 194.55(a) requires assessments intended to demonstrate compliance with 40 CFR 191.15 and Subpart C to examine uncertainties in the performance of the disposal system.
• Public Comment on Certification of Waste Isolation Pilot Project (Carlsbad, NM) (PDF)(72 pp, 303 K)
  Official transcript of public hearing held January 5, 1997 in Carlsbad, NM regarding the certification of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.
• Public Hearing Transcripts from Carlsbad, NM (January 6, 1998) (PDF)(81 pp, 126 K)
  Official transcript of public hearing held January 6, 1998 in Carlsbad, NM regarding the certification of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.
• Public Hearing Transcripts from Albuquerque, NM (January 7, 1998) (PDF)(540 pp, 1 MB)
  Official transcript of public hearing held January 7, 1997 in Albuquerque, NM regarding the certification of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.
• Public Hearing Transcripts from Albuquerque, NM (January 8, 1998) (PDF)(332 pp, 2 MB)
  Official transcript of public hearing held January 8, 1998 in Albuquerque, NM regarding the certification of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.
• Public Hearing Transcripts from Santa Fe, NM (January 8, 1998) (PDF)(286 pp, 860 K)
  Official transcript of public hearing held January 8, 1998 in Santa Fe, NM regarding the certification of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.
• Public Hearing Transcripts from Santa Fe, NM (January 9, 1998) (PDF)(612 pp, 2 MB)
  Official transcript of public hearing held January 9, 1998 in Santa Fe, NM regarding the certification of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.
• Public Hearing Transcript from Santa Fe, NM (September 24, 2002) (PDF)(37 pp, 108 K)
  Transcripts of Proceedings from a public hearing held September 24, 2002.
• Public Hearing Transcript from Santa Fe, NM (September 25, 2002) (PDF)(43 pp, 161 K)
  Transcripts of Proceedings from a public hearing held September 25, 2002.