The Idaho National Laboratory sent 66 of the first 102 shipments of transuranic waste to the reopened Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, according to data posted online as of Nov. 22. The update arrived as the Energy Department works to comply with an agreement on moving TRU waste stored at the Idaho site out of state by the end of 2018.
WIPP was shuttered for about three years following a February 2014 vehicle fire and underground radiation release. It resumed receiving waste shipments from other DOE sites in April.
The Energy Department committed in a 1995 settlement agreement with Idaho to take all TRU waste now stored at INL by Dec. 31, 2018. The federal site had shipped about 55,000 of the 65,000 cubic meters of material to WIPP at the time of the 2014 accidents.
The INL waste originally came from DOE’s Rocky Flats facility in Colorado, the Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago, and other properties within the DOE complex, according to material posted online following an Oct. 26 meeting of the INL Citizens Advisory Board.
The Idaho-DOE agreement also required an average of at least 2,000 cubic meters of transuranic waste be removed from the state each year from 2014 to 2016. “Recovery from the accident at WIPP has precluded shipment of 2,000 cubic meter rolling average,” according to the slides from the October advisory board meeting. The lost time places the 2018 milestone at risk, according to the meeting materials.
The waste now stored at INL contains long-lived transuranic isotopes that pose a risk to workers and the environment, according to the presentation from Jim Malmo, an assistant manager for waste disposition with the DOE Idaho Cleanup Project.
WIPP had an emplacement rate recently of five to six shipments per week, according to the slides. The presentation indicated that ramping up the rate will depend on increased efficiency and providing enhanced ventilation for all underground work. WIPP is planning installation of a new permanent ventilation system underground.
