Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP)

Road upgrades are due to begin this week around the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), a byproduct of a settlement agreement between DOE and the state of New Mexico over a 2014 accident at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The Energy Department’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration said Monday the first of […]

The latest version of the Senate’s fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act calls upon the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to report on repackaging of transuranic waste at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) after an April 11 incident in which the lids blew off four waste drums. It is “disturbing” that at least one of the […]

The Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., has resumed emplacement of transuranic waste that was suspended after detection of a misaligned drum on May 24. A recovery plan to fix the leaning drum within a seven-pack canister was approved May 29, DOE Carlsbad Field Office Manager Todd Shrader said Wednesday in […]

Nuclear Waste Partnership, the Energy Department’s prime contractor for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., took home 90 percent of its total potential fee for fiscal 2017. That percentage was good for $10.7 million in fees for the budget year that ended Sept. 30, 2017. That was a better percentage than the […]

The New Mexico Environment Department said June 1 it was not ready to decide whether to change the way it measures the volume of transuranic waste disposed of underground at the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The New Mexico agency plans a more extensive “Class 3” review of the site permit modification, which […]

Spending plans that would ensure the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) will have somewhere in the neighborhood of $7 billion for cleanup of Cold War nuclear sites in fiscal 2019 continue to make their way through Congress. On Friday morning, the House of Representatives approved its fiscal 2019 energy and water appropriations as […]

A headline in the Wednesday edition of the Weapons Complex Morning Briefing incorrectly listed the total fees earned in fiscal 2017 by Nuclear Waste Partnership, the Energy Department contractor for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. The amount was $10.7 million.

The Senate’s latest National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) would allow the Department of Energy to spend $5.63 billion on defense environmental cleanup operations in fiscal 2019. That matches the department’s request for the budget year beginning Oct. 1, but it is $50 million lower than the level authorized in the House NDAA. The Senate measure […]

The Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., has resumed emplacement of transuranic waste that was suspended after detection of a misaligned drum on May 24. A recovery plan to fix the leaning drum within a seven-pack canister was approved May 29, DOE Carlsbad Field Office Manager Todd Shrader said Wednesday in […]

The power company serving the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico has started moving an overhead electric transmission line to make way for new structures to be built on the surface for the site’s planned Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System. Xcel Energy has already installed most of the power poles for the […]

Nuclear Waste Partnership, the Energy Department’s prime contractor for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., took home 90 percent of its total potential fee for fiscal 2017. That percentage was good for $10.7 million in fees for the budget year that ended Sept. 30, 2017. That was a better percentage than the […]

Road upgrades are due to begin this week around the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), a byproduct of a settlement agreement between DOE and the state of New Mexico over a 2014 accident at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The Energy Department’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration said Monday the first of […]

The New Mexico Environment Department said Friday it was not ready to decide whether to change the way it measures the volume of transuranic waste disposed at the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The New Mexico agency also plans a more extensive “Class 3” review of the site permit modification, which requires more […]

The Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., is nearing resumption of underground disposal operations following discovery of a misaligned drum inside a waste canister last week. The agency temporarily suspended transuranic waste disposal after the May 24 event within Room 5 of Panel 7 at the underground salt mine. Normal operations […]

It could take several more weeks to complete cleanup of an Idaho National Laboratory facility where four drums of solidified radioactive waste were found to have breached on April 11, the president of site cleanup contractor Fluor Idaho wrote in a May 25 column for local newspapers. The investigation has entered a forensic phase, and […]

The Senate Appropriations Committee wants the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico to start planning for accommodating 34 metric tons of processed plutonium that was supposed to be converted into nuclear reactor fuel at the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) in South Carolina. Energy Secretary Perry officially canceled the MOX […]

It could take several more weeks to complete cleanup of an Idaho National Laboratory facility where four drums of solidified radioactive waste were found to have breached on April 11, the president of site cleanup contractor Fluor Idaho wrote in a Friday column for local newspapers. The investigation has entered a forensic phase, and waste […]

The Senate Appropriations Committee wants the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico to start planning for accommodating 34 metric tons of processed plutonium that was supposed to be converted into nuclear reactor fuel at the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) in South Carolina. Energy Secretary Perry officially canceled the MOX […]

The Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., has temporarily suspended disposal operations after the underground mine was evacuated following discovery of a misaligned drum inside a waste  canister on Thursday. Workers noticed the odd alignment of the drum at about 7:30 p.m. local time and stopped waste disposal work. One of […]

While it has been looking since the fourth quarter of 2017, the prime contractor for the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) has not yet hired a director of mining. Nuclear Waste Partnership still hopes to find the right candidate in the near future, spokesman Donavan Mager said by telephone last week. Making the […]

Written testimony from a New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) official last week, before the House Energy and Commerce environment subcommittee, adds more details to the state’s argument for classifying much of the West Valley Demonstration Project’s remaining waste as defense-related transuranic waste and shipping it to the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation […]

The Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico briefly activated its emergency operations center Thursday evening, and had workers leave the underground disposal area, after discovery of a “misaligned” drum within a waste container, WIPP’s prime contractor said in a release posted on its Facebook page. Workers noticed the awkward alignment of the […]

Energy Secretary Rick Perry should not assume New Mexico will automatically accept a dramatic expansion in the mission of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) told fellow members the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday. While transuranic waste from DOE sites is shipped to the underground repository for permanent disposal, Udall cautioned […]

While it has been looking since the fourth quarter of 2017, the prime contractor for the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) has not yet hired a director of mining. Nuclear Waste Partnership still hopes to find the right candidate in the near future, spokesman Donavan Mager said by telephone last week. Making the […]

Written testimony from a New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) official Friday, before the House Energy and Commerce environment subcommittee, adds more details to the state’s argument for classifying much of the West Valley Demonstration Project’s remaining waste as defense-related transuranic waste and shipping it to the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot […]

A new $288 million ventilation system, intended to allow the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico to conduct simultaneous underground salt mining and disposal of transuranic waste, has been approved by Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management Anne Marie White. “This will be a significant improvement for WIPP in support of […]

The House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday rejected an amendment to its fiscal 2019 energy and water bill that would have siphoned away certain increased funding for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository and Energy Department environmental cleanup programs. During the committee markup of the bill, Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.) proposed the amendment to help restore […]

The Energy Department and the state of New York disagree on whether waste at the West Valley Demonstration Project should be considered defense-related, according to testimony Friday before the House of Representatives’ Energy and Commerce environment subcommittee. New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) General Counsel Noah Shaw told the panel both high-level […]

A leaked report from a nominally independent office within the National Nuclear Security Administration offers a trove of new details about the plan the agency must sell to Congress in order to start producing nuclear-warhead cores in South Carolina. On May 10, Energy Secretary Rick Perry said he would officially cancel the Mixed Oxide Fuel […]

Las Vegas-based Longenecker & Associates said Tuesday it has hired nuclear industry veteran Mike Briggs to the newly created post of senior program manager for operational support. Briggs, who has worked on major projects within the Energy Department complex, will oversee L&A’s operational support business, which includes training, nuclear safety, and radiation protection. “As L&A […]