Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP)

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico received 48 shipments of transuranic waste during December, finishing 2023 with 489 shipments, the most in a year since the facility reopened in 2017, according to DOE’s public website. The 489 shipments shattered the 2022 mark of 272 shipments to the Waste Isolation Pilot […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico received 48 shipments of transuranic waste during December, finishing 2023 with 489 shipments, the most in a year since the facility reopened in 2017, according to DOE’s public website. The 489 shipments shattered the 2022 mark of 272 shipments to the Waste Isolation Pilot […]

A proposed merger of two industry heavyweights, already partners on about $37 billion worth of Department of Energy nuclear-cleanup contracts, will be among the most-watched issues in 2024 for Weapons Complex Monitor. Virginia-based Amentum plans to merge with the government contracting and cyber wings Dallas-based Jacobs, the two companies announced in October. If the deal […]

The Department of Energy plans to extend its deal with Waste Control Specialists through late 2026 for ongoing storage of stranded transuranic waste, stuck at the West Texas site for about a decade. In June 2023, DOE told the Texas attorney general’s office it plans to move its 74 containers of transuranic waste out of […]

The looming departure of Los Alamos National Laboratory federal field manager Michael Mikolanis will mark the second swap of Environmental Management field bosses across the Department of Energy’s old weapons complex in a little more than a year. These days, most site feds have a tenure of fewer than six years. These people are the […]

After its waste shipment rate declined briefly due to staffing, the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory is again sending about 12 shipments most weeks to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, according to a recent report. After bosses at the Idaho National Laboratory cut the number of weekly shipments during October to […]

With 2023 winding down, the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office this week offered a broad overview of how most of its nuclear-weapons cleanup contractors performed during the year. In a widely distributed statement on Tuesday, the Office of Environmental Management shared contractor performance ratings that mostly spanned fiscal year 2023, which ended Sept. 30. […]

Work is still suspended on a new underground utility shaft at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico following a Nov. 20 accident, in which no one was injured, where a container of equipment fell about 2,200 feet underground. A detailed inspection of the shaft and equipment will be performed, followed […]

After its waste shipment rate declined briefly due to staffing, the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory is again sending about 12 shipments most weeks to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, according to a recent report. After bosses at the Idaho National Laboratory cut the number of weekly shipments during October to […]

S&K Logistics, a tribally-owned government contractor, has won a potential three-year, $24-million award for support services at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract for professional services, ranging from liquid waste cleanup to legal support, at Savannah River runs from Dec. 12, 2023 through Dec. 11, […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., remains on pace to have its best calendar year performance since it returned to service in 2017 following an underground accident three years earlier. The nation’s only deep geologic disposal site for defense-related transuranic waste has received 441 shipments between Jan. 1 and Nov. […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., remains on pace to have its best calendar year performance since it returned to service in 2017 following an underground accident three years earlier. The nation’s only deep geologic disposal site for defense-related transuranic waste has received 434 shipments between Jan. 1 and Nov. […]

Rick Lopez will formally take the oath of office as the new mayor of Carlsbad, N.M., on Jan. 2  at the Janell Whitlock Municipal Annex, according to a Dec. 10 post on the city’s website. Lopez is the retired fire chief for the New Mexico city about 26 miles northeast by road from the Department […]

The Department of Energy and its prime contractor for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico are investigating a Nov. 20 accident in which a basket of tools and material fell roughly 2,200 feet to the bottom of the new underground utility shaft. “All work on the Utility Shaft was immediately paused and the […]

The Department of Energy said this week early commissioning is underway for the much-anticipated Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System, designed to triple underground airflow at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. Testing commenced last month for some of the electrical cables that will supply power to the motors, fans and other equipment for […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., received 36 shipments of defense-related transuranic waste during October, according to the agency’s public website for the facility. The figure is current as of Wednesday Nov. 15. There is typically about a two-week lag time between a shipment arriving at the Waste Isolation Pilot […]

The Department of Energy’s inventory of legacy transuranic waste at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina has been winnowed to the point where the last such shipment to the underground disposal site in New Mexico could be only five years away, a federal advisory committee heard last week. Most of Savannah River’s defense-related legacy […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., received 36 shipments of defense-related transuranic waste during October, according to the agency’s public website for the facility. The figure is current as of Wednesday Nov. 15. There is typically about a two-week lag time between a shipment arriving at the Waste Isolation Pilot […]

The Department of Energy’s $8-billion-plus nuclear cleanup branch is getting positive results from its early forays into artificial intelligence and machine learning, Jeff Avery, the No. 2 at DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, told a National Academies panel Tuesday. New technology is playing a growing role at DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, Avery,  principal deputy […]

Effective this past Friday, the Department of Energy’s new 10-year New Mexico Environment Department permit is officially in place for the nation’s only deep underground disposal site for defense-related transuranic waste. Renewal of the state’s hazardous waste facility permit for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant was finalized last month. In August, the state, DOE, federal […]

The long-planned new air-intake shaft at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico has been excavated to its final depth of 2,275 feet, the agency said Tuesday. Completion of the 26-feet-wide shaft is a 2023 priority for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) 26 miles […]

Shipments of transuranic waste to the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico from Idaho National Laboratory could decline in 2024, according to a recent federal safety board update. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad receives waste drums from the Idaho National Laboratory’s Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project (AMWTP), as […]

The long-planned new air-intake shaft at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico has been excavated to its final depth of 2,275 feet, the agency said Tuesday. Completion of the 26-feet-wide shaft is a 2023 priority for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) 26 miles […]

Shipments of transuranic waste to the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico from Idaho National Laboratory could decline in 2024, according to a recent federal safety board update. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad receives waste drums from the Idaho National Laboratory’s Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project (AMWTP), as […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., had another busy month by post-2014 standards, receiving 48 shipments, with the vast majority coming from Idaho National Laboratory. According to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP)’s public website, the underground salt mine received 43 shipments of defense-related transuranic waste from the Idaho lab, […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., had another busy month by post-2014 standards, receiving 48 shipments, with the vast majority coming from Idaho National Laboratory. According to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP)’s public website, the underground salt mine received 43 shipments of defense-related transuranic waste from the Idaho lab, […]

The New Mexico Environment Department this week approved 10 more years of operation for the nation’s only deep underground disposal site for defense-related transuranic waste. The order was issued Wednesday authorizing renewal of the state’s hazardous waste facility permit for the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The document was signed by Michelle […]

The Department of Energy’s Carlsbad Field Office in New Mexico is not planning to add any treatment capabilities for problem shipments of transuranic waste arriving at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, a federal manager said Tuesday. “We don’t have any measures in our permit, we are not a treatment facility,” said Ken Princen, assistant manager […]

The Department of Energy Waste Isolation Pilot Plant received 473 shipments of transuranic waste during fiscal 2023, the most in about a decade, a DOE manager said Tuesday during a public meeting in New Mexico. The 473 shipments for the 12 months ended Sept. 30 is the most since before February 2014 when an underground […]

The Department of Energy Waste Isolation Pilot Plant received 473 shipments of transuranic waste during fiscal 2023, the most in about a decade, a DOE manager said Tuesday during a public meeting in New Mexico. The 473 shipments for the 12 months ended Sept. 30 is the most since before February 2014 when an underground […]