Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP)

A transuranic waste container potentially too contaminated to be disposed of, yet already shipped to the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, will be sent back to the Savannah River Site in South Carolina in August, the prime contractor for disposal site said Tuesday. The standard waste box, now located in […]

The Department of Energy’s Carlsbad N.M. Field Office and its Bechtel contractor for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant hold a community forum Tuesday evening July 11 at the Marriott Albuquerque. The public forum, viewable online, will be the first major public discussion by managers at the field office and Bechtel’s Salado Isolation Mining Contractors since […]

The newly inked agreement between New Mexico’s Environment Department and the National Nuclear Security Administration about what to do with radioactive waste will prioritize old waste ahead of byproducts of an impending ramp-up in plutonium pit production. A New Mexico Environment Department spokesman said the “settlement agreement prioritizes legacy waste ahead of newly generated waste […]

The newly inked agreement between New Mexico’s Environment Department and the National Nuclear Security Administration about what to do with radioactive waste will prioritize old waste ahead of byproducts of an impending ramp-up in plutonium pit production. A New Mexico Environment Department spokesman said the “settlement agreement prioritizes legacy waste ahead of newly generated waste […]

Stakeholders have agreed to a deal for a new 10-year draft permit for the Department of Energy’s underground disposal site for defense-related transuranic waste near Carlsbad, N.M., the New Mexico Environment Department said late Tuesday  Various stakeholders had requested a hearing on the new Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) permit, but the deal announced Tuesday […]

Summer is here and it has been a hot and in some cases smoky weather week for some facilities connected with the Department of Energy’s weapons complex.  Workers at a commercially-owned waste disposal facility in West Texas and DOE’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., coped with dangerous heat warnings issued by the […]

Stakeholders have agreed to a deal for a new 10-year draft permit for the Department of Energy’s underground disposal site for defense-related transuranic waste near Carlsbad, N.M., the New Mexico Environment Department said late Tuesday  Various stakeholders had requested a hearing on the new Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) permit, but the deal announced Tuesday […]

The Department of Energy intends to award a sole-source contract to a firm with experience working with both college swim teams as well as businesses, to provide “coaching” services to managers at the agency’s Carlsbad, N.M., field office. The DOE’s Cincinnati-based Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center said in an online procurement notice, it intends to […]

Workers at a commercially-owned waste disposal facility in West Texas and the Department of Energy’s disposal site for defense-related transuranic waste near Carlsbad, N.M., should be mindful of dangerous heat wave warnings issued by the National Weather Service today in their localities. In Andrews County, Texas where Waste Control Specialists (WCS) is located, the forecast […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., received 28 shipments of transuranic waste during May, according to its website. Twenty shipments during the month came from the Idaho National Laboratory, four from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, three from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina and one […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., received 28 shipments of transuranic waste during May, according to its website. Twenty shipments during the month came from the Idaho National Laboratory, four from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, three from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina and one […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico was among numerous federal entities that suffered a data breach Thursday as part of an international cyber hack involving the “”MOVEit” software. “Upon learning that records from two DOE entities were compromised in the global cyberattack on the file-sharing software MOVEit Transfer, DOE took […]

SUMMERLIN, NEV. — The manager of the Department of Energy’s Carlsbad, N.M., field office expects the major new ventilation system for the transuranic waste disposal site could start up sometime in 2024. “Preliminary commissioning” work on the Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System should start this calendar year, said Mark Bollinger, who heads the Carlsbad Field […]

SUMMERLIN, NEV. — By June 30, the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office expects to provide the Texas attorney general with a “detailed schedule” for retrieving boxes of transuranic waste stranded at a private disposal site in Andrews County for nearly a decade. In a May 10 letter to Phillip Ledbetter, managing enforcement lawyer with […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has granted one-time approval for the Department of Energy to return a problem container of transuranic waste with expired paperwork to the Savannah River Site in South Carolina from the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant parking lot in New Mexico. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission authorized the return in a June 2 letter […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has granted one-time approval for the Department of Energy to return a problem container of transuranic waste with expired paperwork to the Savannah River Site in South Carolina from the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant parking lot in New Mexico. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission authorized the return in a June 2 letter […]

SUMMERLIN, NEV. — The manager of the Department of Energy’s Carlsbad, N.M., field office expects the major new ventilation system for the transuranic waste disposal site could start up sometime in 2024. “Preliminary commissioning” work on the Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System should start this calendar year, said Mark Bollinger, who heads the Carlsbad Field […]

SUMMERLIN, NEV. — By June 30, the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office expects to provide the Texas attorney general with a “detailed schedule” for retrieving boxes of transuranic waste stranded at a private disposal site in Andrews County for nearly a decade. In a May 10 letter to Phillip Ledbetter, managing enforcement lawyer with […]

SUMMERLIN, NEV — The Department of Energy should in June provide a timeline for removing long-stranded drums of transuranic waste from a commercial storage site in Andrews County, a Texas regulator said here Tuesday.  “They are moving forward with getting the building ready to eventually move the waste,” Ashley Forbes, deputy director of the radioactive […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Thursday it found no significant environmental impact from allowing Waste Control Specialists to move containers of long-stranded Department of Energy transuranic waste to another location within the company’s Andrews County, Texas property. The move, sought by Waste Control Specialists (WCS) 11 months ago, would allow relocation of 74 containers of […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico appears headed for its busiest calendar year since the disposal site reopened in 2017.  The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) received 47 shipments of defense-related transuranic waste during the month of April, based upon a search of DOE’s public website for the facility this […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said this morning it found no significant environmental impact from allowing Waste Control Specialists to move containers of long-stranded Department of Energy transuranic waste to another location within the company’s Andrews County, Texas property. The move, sought by Waste Control Specialists (WCS) 11 months ago, would allow relocation of 74 containers […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission could issue a Federal Register notice this week of a draft environmental review to allow Waste Control Specialists to move stranded Department of Energy transuranic waste to a different location within the company’s 1,300-acre property in preparation for its ultimate removal from Texas, a federal spokesperson said Tuesday. The public notice, […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico appears headed for its busiest calendar year since the disposal site reopened in 2017.  The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) received 47 shipments of defense-related transuranic waste during the month of April, based upon a search of DOE’s public website for the facility on […]

In its latest effort to expand and diversify its pipeline of future workers, the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management said it is making up to $24.5 million in federal money available to its Minority Serving Institutions Partnership Program. The funding opportunity announcement should result in multiple financial assistance awards ranging from 12-36 months, […]

If New Mexico and the Department of Energy do not soon resolve starkly different ideas about the long-term future of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the agencies may try to bridge the gap in a public hearing this summer. The public hearing, if necessary, would take place in August or September, a spokesperson for the […]

If New Mexico and the Department of Energy do not soon resolve starkly different ideas about the long-term future of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the agencies may try to bridge the gap in a public hearing this summer. The public hearing, if necessary, would take place in August or September, a spokesperson for the […]

An April 19 Weapons Complex Morning Briefing article [ECA opposes WIPP restrictions sought by New Mexico regulators] should have reported the Mayor of Carlsbad, N.M. Nuclear Task Force in its public comments said the New Mexico Environment Department engaged in “chest thumping” by certain restrictions included a draft permit for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. 

The Los Alamos National Laboratory over 16 years sent almost 50 containers of incorrectly labeled radioactive waste to the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the site’s prime contractor recently told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The lab assigned the containers codes that indicated they should have been able to generate less combustible hydrogen during […]

The Department of Energy’s former prime contractor at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico and an employee who filed suit in 2021, claiming he was wrongly bypassed for promotion because of his race, have agreed to dismiss the federal court case. As a result, a status conference set for April 12 in the […]