Transuranic Waste

Disposing of some tank waste from Hanford and Savannah River at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant could save costs, but the Department of Energy would have to first shift to a risk-informed basis for its waste disposal decisions, a DOE official said late last week. More than half of the budget for DOE’s Office of […]

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant may not have enough capacity to receive the Department of Energy’s remaining remote-handled transuranic waste inventory, according to a Office of Inspector General report released Friday. The report reviewed the Office of Environmental Management’s program to disposition transuranic waste and also noted that DOE is not on track to meet […]

In a move set to significantly increase waste processing rates at the Idaho Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Plant, Idaho Treatment Group, LLC, has received regulatory approval to use the AMWTP facility’s supercompactor as a treatment method for some items prohibited for disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. Regulators in both Idaho and New Mexico […]

Among potential amendments to the House’s version of the Fiscal Year 2014 National Defense Authorization Act, Rep. Steve Pearce (R-N.M.) is looking to add a provision to expand the mission of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. In addition to defense transuranic waste, the proposed amendment states it would open the repository to "the transportation and […]

House lawmakers Friday approved the Fiscal Year 2014 National Defense Authorization bill, which included a provision that would open the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant to non-defense-related transuranic waste. The language was in an amendment offered by Rep. Steve Pearce (R-N.M.), which was incorporated into the bill late Thursday. In addition to defense transuranic waste, the […]

House Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) is taking issue with a provision that would open the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant to non-defense transuranic waste that was included in legislation that passed the House Friday. Waxman believes the provision should have been taken up by Energy and Commerce. “If this effort to […]

The Department of Energy has begun moving forward with preparations to recompete the contract to manage the Oak Ridge Transuranic Waste Processing Center, issuing a sources sought notice yesterday to begin performing market research to gauge whether there are small businesses capable of performing the work. According to the notice, DOE is proposing using a […]

Hanford tank farms contractor Washington River Protection Solutions issued a request for expressions of interest late last week seeking companies that may be able to address tank waste considered to be transuranic material. The Department of Energy is looking to dispose of approximately 1.4 million gallons of waste in 11 of Hanford’s single-shell tanks considered […]

If the Obama Administration wants support for plans to ship Hanford tank waste believed to be transuranic material to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, it will have to do more to help with funding for WIPP and with Los Alamos cleanup efforts, New Mexico Sen. Tom Udall (D) said yesterday at a […]

A Department of Energy investigation has substantiated allegations of safety culture issues at the Idaho Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project. An investigation performed by the DOE Idaho Operations Office Employee Concerns Program in response to an anonymous concern found that an AMWTP employee “did not foster an environment for workers to openly raise safety concerns,” […]

The Department of Energy’s Inspector General has found several new areas needing improvement at Los Alamos National Laboratory’s low-level waste disposal area. The IG recently completed an inspection to follow up on a 2011 review of LANL’s Material Disposal Area G, and in a report released yesterday named additional areas of concern related to worker […]

A set of environmental activist groups is calling on the Department of Energy to drop plans to ship Hanford tank waste deemed to be transuranic material to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant for disposal. Instead, the Department should move forward with the construction of new waste tanks at Hanford, the groups said in a March […]

The Department of Energy would like to send 3.1 million gallons of Hanford waste in up to 20 tanks to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, giving it more flexibility to deal with possibly leaking single-shell tanks, it announced Wednesday. “This alternative, if implemented, would not impact the continued safe operations and performance of the WIPP […]

The Department of Energy yesterday awarded a $1.6 million grant to the New Mexico Environment Department for oversight and monitoring of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. The grant will be used cover five years of NMED non-regulatory activities at the defense transuranic waste disposal facility near Carlsbad, N.M.

The Department of Energy has approved a recovery plan developed by Idaho Treatment Group, LLC, to help improve waste processing rates at the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project. The recovery plan was developed in response to a strongly worded letter DOE sent ITG this spring warning of performance concerns that could result in the contractor […]

New Waste Isolation Pilot Plant management-and-operations contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership, LLC, officially takes over work at the site from Washington TRU Solutions today. Several key personnel from the previous contractor will remain at the site, including General Manager Farok Sharif. And the new URS-led team follows 27 years of URS work at WIPP. Last week […]

Another top-level management shakeup is underway at Idaho Treatment Group, LLC, the managing contractor for the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project at the Department of Energy’s Idaho site. Late yesterday, ITG announced that Richard Raaz has stepped down as Project Manager, effective immediately, and will be returning to URS to “assume corporate responsibilities.“ URS is […]

Celeritex, LLC—a joint venture of Project Services Group, LLC and DeNuke Contracting Services—has won the Department of Energy’s new contact to help prepare transuranic waste for shipment to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant for disposal. The new contract, which was set aside for small businesses, is worth up to $17.8 million and is set to […]

The Savannah River Site’s Citizen’s Advisory Board is urging the Department of Energy to develop shipping containers for vitrified waste on site and look into disposing the waste at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. Following the cancellation of the Yucca Mountain project, disposal in WIPP represents a “promising and likely approach” to disposition of canisters […]

Los Alamos National Laboratory’s transuranic waste program announced this week that it has sent 172 shipments to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant so far this Fiscal Year, already surpassing last year’s 171 shipments. “Our goal this fiscal year is 184 shipments and we are on track to surpass that by a substantial margin,” Lee Bishop, TRU […]

A Waste Isolation Pilot Plant employee died in an accident between a pickup truck and a tractor trailer on the WIPP access road Monday afternoon in which both vehicles burst into flames. While the driver of the tractor trailer was not injured, a WIPP employee driving a government pickup truck died at the scene, according […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board is again raising issues with the maintenance program at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, expressing concern last week on the effectiveness of maintenance work control documents (WCDs). After the Board expressed concern in 2010 about work planning and control at WIPP, contractor Washington TRU Solutions developed two maintenance program […]

Only six months after B&W-led Idaho Treatment Group took over operation of the Idaho Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project, the Department of Energy sent the contractor a letter yesterday warning of performance concerns that could result in ITG failing to meet the terms of its contract. To date, ITG has shipped only 1,400 cubic meters […]

Wastren Advantage, Inc., which operates the Oak Ridge Transuranic Waste Processing Center, earned almost all of the available fee for its last evaluation period of Aug. 1, 2011, to Jan. 31, 2012, according to an April 2 Department of Energy fee evaluation letter. For the period, WAI was awarded $1,208,003 out of an available $1,281,021. […]

Amid efforts in Carlsbad, N.M., to attract potential new nuclear waste missions, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) visited the city yesterday and toured the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. Following her tour of the defense transuranic waste repository, Murkowski met with Carlsbad area officials to discuss the WIPP site and other nuclear waste issues. In addition to […]

The Department of Energy is set to award the new M&O contract for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant by the end of this week. In a letter to bidders April 13, obtained by WC Monitor, DOE said the award decision is anticipated to be announced on April 20. DOE has also proposed to the bidders […]

Department of Energy debriefs are scheduled to get underway this week with the four teams believed to have bid on the recently awarded new M&O contract for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. The contract, worth approximately $1.3 billion, was awarded to a team led by URS called Nuclear Waste Partnership, LLC, which also includes B&W […]

Companies interested in the Department of Energy’s new contract to provide mobile loading services for transuranic waste at various generator sites now have an extra week to prepare their bids, with the proposal deadline moved to May 17 from May 10. The extension, which will be included in a forthcoming amendment to the Request for […]

The Department of Energy has issued a Request for Interest and prequalification criteria for the construction of new transuranic waste storage buildings for Los Alamos National Laboratory’s TRU Waste Facility. DOE intends to issue an RFP in the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2013 for work at the facility, located at LANL’s TA-63 site. “The […]

Sandia National Laboratories is scheduled to make the last of 11 transuranic waste shipments to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant today, with a group of dignitaries on hand, including New Mexico state officials, to mark the truck’s departure. Sandia, one of the Department of Energy’s smaller TRU waste sites, had help from the DOE’s Central […]