Transuranic Waste

Former Idaho Gov. Philip Batt opposes potential Energy Department shipment of transuranic waste from the Hanford Site in Washington state to the Idaho National Laboratory. Batt, a Republican, was governor from 1995 to 1999, and championed a landmark settlement between the state, DOE, and the U.S. Navy that limited nuclear waste storage in Idaho. He […]

While actual construction is not scheduled to begin until later this summer, the Energy Department held a ceremonial groundbreaking Thursday for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant’s $288 million Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System (SSCVS). Site clearing and power line relocation is already underway for the project, which is considered essential to the future of underground […]

An Idaho environmental group said this week it has significant concerns about the potential for the Energy Department to move 7,000 cubic meters of transuranic waste from the Hanford Site in Washington state to the Idaho National Laboratory for repackaging. While no written application has been filed, the idea has been kicking around DOE for […]

The U.S. Senate on Thursday voted to close debate on its version of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2019, setting up a floor vote Monday on the measure that sets spending caps on defense environmental cleanup at the Department of Energy. Senators voted 81-15 in favor of cloture. The defense policy bill, passed […]

An Idaho environmental group said Wednesday it has significant concerns about an Energy Department plan to move 7,000 cubic meters of transuranic waste from the Hanford Site Washington state to the Idaho National Laboratory for repackaging. The idea has been kicking around DOE for a couple years but seems to be “ripening” in recent months […]

The Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., received 133 shipments of transuranic waste during the first five months of 2018, the same number it received for disposal during almost eight months of operation in 2017. That rounds out to roughly six shipments of TRU waste per week, based on about 22 […]

The Energy Department and contractor AECOM said Thursday the last phase of building demolition is finished at the Separations Process Research Unit (SPRU) in upstate New York and cleanup should be completed this fall. A two-year demolition project for Buildings H2 and G2 ended last month on the property located at the Knolls Atomic Power […]

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 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 […]

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 […]

A significant amount of material was ejected when four 55-gallon drums of radioactive waste blew their lids off during an April 11 incident at the Idaho National Laboratory, Fluor Idaho said in a recent report. “A significant portion” of the potential 220 gallons of repackaged waste sludge were found afterward scattered on the floor 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 […]

The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) has been in an operational safety pause since April 26 due to a “trend of concerns” that include deficiencies in safety, work performance, and planning, the Department of Energy said this week. The pause covers nearly all work at the lab, except essential activities needed to maintain safe operations. […]

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 […]