25th anniversary of New Mexico's WIPP radioactive waste repository marks concerns over federal plans to repackage and ship drums linked to 2014 radiation release.

25th anniversary of the nation's only underground repository for radioactive waste is marked in New Mexico. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) has received around 13,850 shipments from various US laboratories and other sites since 1999. However, New Mexico raises concerns about the federal government's plans to repackage and ship drums containing the same materials that caused a radiation release at WIPP in 2014. The incident contaminated parts of the underground facility and led to a nearly three-year closure.