Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP)

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico received 61 shipments of transuranic (TRU) waste during September, marking its highest monthly total for the 2025 fiscal year and the calendar year thus far. Last month’s total is six more than the 55 shipments of TRU waste sent in August, and the […]

A public information meeting on work at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is scheduled for Thursday Nov. 6 at Southeast New Mexico College in Carlsbad. The meeting will start at 4 p.m. Mountain Time. The session will be available online and will be jointly conducted by DOE’s Carlsbad Field Office and […]

Here are events related to nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking:  (With the federal shutdown still in effect at press time it is advisable to double-check with sponsors to see if government-related speakers/events are still scheduled. ) October 29-30: Conference: Energy Technology and Environmental Business Association 2025 business opportunities conference program starts at […]

ARLINGTON, VA — The Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico is weighing a new strategy for moving transuranic waste stuck for years at Waste Control Specialists (WCS) in Texas, a federal manager said Thursday Sept. 25.  The prior plan declared several acres inside the WCS property in Andrews, Texas a temporary […]

ARLINGTON, VA — The Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico is weighing a new strategy for moving transuranic waste stuck for years at Waste Control Specialists (WCS) in Texas, a federal manager said Thursday. The prior plan declared several acres inside the WCS property in Andrews, Texas a temporary “DOE island,” […]

ARLINGTON, VA — The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., expects to meet its fiscal 2025 target of receiving 425 shipments of transuranic waste within days, a DOE manager said here Wednesday. As of this week, WIPP has received 419 shipments of defense-related transuranic waste from across the weapons complex, […]

ARLINGTON, VA — The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., expects to meet its fiscal 2025 target of receiving 425 shipments of transuranic waste within days, a DOE manager said here Wednesday. As of this week, WIPP has received 419 shipments of defense-related transuranic waste from across the weapons complex, […]

ARLINGTON, VA — The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., expects to meet its fiscal 2025 target of receiving 425 shipments of transuranic waste within days, a DOE manager said here Wednesday. As of this week, WIPP has received 419 shipments of defense-related transuranic waste from across the weapons complex, […]

The prime contractor for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) has finished its $15-million overhaul of the so-called “salt pocket” at the Department of Energy’s underground transuranic waste disposal site in New Mexico. The DOE Office of Environmental Management and Bechtel-led Salado Isolation Mining Contractors began the work in January. Completion of the project means […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico received 55 waste shipments in August.  That’s slightly more than the 50 shipments sent to the facility in August 2024, and the 48 WIPP received in July. The figures are according to DOE’s public website for the underground salt mine disposal site.  Of […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico received 55 waste shipments in August.  That’s slightly more than the 50 shipments sent to the facility in August 2024, and the 48 WIPP received in July. The figures are according to DOE’s public website for the underground salt mine disposal site.  Of […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico received 55 waste shipments in August.  That’s slightly more than the 50 shipments sent to the facility in August 2024, and the 48 WIPP received in July. The figures are according to DOE’s public website for the underground salt mine disposal site.  Of […]

The Reuters news service reported last week that President Donald Trump’s administration plans to tap plutonium left over from dismantled nuclear weapons to help power commercial nuclear reactors in the United States. The news service reported Trump could have the Department of Energy make 20 metric tons available for U.S. nuclear power plants. The article […]

The Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup branch says it needs more time to put together a detailed response on infrastructure replacement and refurbishment at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico. The current top executive at DOE’s Office of Environmental Management requested a 45-day extension to the current Oct. 16 due date in […]

The Reuters news service reported Friday that President Donald Trump’s administration plans to tap plutonium left over from dismantled nuclear weapons to help power commercial nuclear reactors in the United States. The news service reported Trump could have the Department of Energy make 20 metric tons available for U.S. nuclear power plants. The article said […]

The Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup branch says it needs more time to put together a detailed response on infrastructure replacement and refurbishment at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico. The current top executive at DOE’s Office of Environmental Management requested a 45-day extension to the current Oct. 16 due date in […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico received another 48 shipments of transuranic (TRU) waste in July, bringing its total this calendar year to 222 shipments.  Last month’s total is three more than the 45 WIPP received in July 2024, and the third highest total this year, following the 59 […]

The Environmental Protection Agency has approved two new waste disposal panels for the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M. The DOE Office of Environmental Management said in a Monday Aug. 18 press release that EPA has approved use of replacement Panels 11 and 12 for the nation’s only underground disposal […]

New Mexico is citing the Department of Energy and its prime contractor at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) with violations and giving them until Sept. 24 to deliver a plan for fixing aging assets at the disposal site for transuranic waste. An order by a branch of the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) gives […]

New Mexico is citing the Department of Energy and its prime contractor at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) with violations and giving them until Sept. 24 to deliver a plan for fixing aging assets at the disposal site for transuranic waste. An order by a branch of the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) gives […]

New Mexico is citing the Department of Energy and its prime contractor at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) with violations and giving them until Sept. 24 to deliver a plan for fixing aging assets at the disposal site for transuranic waste. An order by a branch of the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) gives […]

The head of the Department of Energy’s Carlsbad Field Office in New Mexico says a recent government watchdog report on rundown infrastructure at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) was mostly a “retrospective” on the former prime contractor. DOE Carlsbad field manager Mark Bollinger addressed a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that found key […]

Here are events related to nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking: July: 22: Meeting: A meeting of the Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board, which will be livestreamed, is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. Eastern Time from the  Center for African American History, Art and Culture, 120 York Street NE, Aiken, South […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico received 59 transuranic (TRU) waste shipments last month.  That is more than the 53 shipments it received in May and is the highest total the facility has received since the 64 shipments sent to WIPP in June 2024.  Of the 59 shipments, 45 […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) has asked the Department of Energy for a briefing on plans to refurbish an old shaft and hoist relied upon for emergency evacuation of underground workers at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). “Despite long-standing recognition of underlying problems, age-related degradation and technical obsolescence issues with the shafts […]

The Department of Energy’s underground disposal site for defense-related transuranic waste is still well behind its shipment rate from before a major accident in 2014, but things are gradually rebounding, according to the Government Accountability Office. “According to DOE officials, WIPP [the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M.] had been receiving as many as […]

The Department of Energy’s underground disposal site for defense-related transuranic waste is still well behind its shipment rate from before a major accident in 2014, but things are gradually rebounding, according to the Government Accountability Office. “According to DOE officials, WIPP [the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M.] had been receiving as many as […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) has asked the Department of Energy for a briefing on plans to refurbish an old shaft and hoist relied upon for emergency evacuation of underground workers at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). “Despite long-standing recognition of underlying problems, age-related degradation and technical obsolescence issues with the shafts […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) has asked the Department of Energy for a briefing on plans to refurbish an old shaft and hoist relied upon for emergency evacuation of underground workers at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). “Despite long-standing recognition of underlying problems, age-related degradation and technical obsolescence issues with the shafts […]

The Department of Energy’s underground disposal site for defense-related transuranic waste is still well behind its shipment rate from before a major accident in 2014, but things are gradually rebounding, according to the Government Accountability Office. “According to DOE officials, WIPP [the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M.] had been receiving as many as […]