Transuranic Waste

If New Mexico and the Department of Energy do not soon resolve starkly different ideas about the long-term future of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the agencies may try to bridge the gap in a public hearing this summer. The public hearing, if necessary, would take place in August or September, a spokesperson for the […]

An April 19 Weapons Complex Morning Briefing article [ECA opposes WIPP restrictions sought by New Mexico regulators] should have reported the Mayor of Carlsbad, N.M. Nuclear Task Force in its public comments said the New Mexico Environment Department engaged in “chest thumping” by certain restrictions included a draft permit for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. 

The Los Alamos National Laboratory over 16 years sent almost 50 containers of incorrectly labeled radioactive waste to the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the site’s prime contractor recently told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The lab assigned the containers codes that indicated they should have been able to generate less combustible hydrogen during […]

The Department of Energy’s former prime contractor at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico and an employee who filed suit in 2021, claiming he was wrongly bypassed for promotion because of his race, have agreed to dismiss the federal court case. As a result, a status conference set for April 12 in the […]

Moving long-stranded, potentially combustible radioactive waste to the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico from a commercial site in Texas remains a priority, an agency official told a National Academies of Sciences panel this week. “We are continuing to work on a path forward for the LANL [Los Alamos National Laboratory […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., received 36 shipments of transuranic waste during March, according to the latest publicly-available figures. The DOE’s public website for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) shows 25 shipments arriving between March 1 and March 31 from the Idaho National Laboratory; four from the Savannah […]

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant is only 42% full and will be needed well beyond 2034 when a New Mexico permit renewal expires, the Department of Energy said in a regulatory filing this week.   DOE’s Carlsbad Field Office and its prime subcontractor for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) also want a New Mexico Environment […]

During fiscal 2023, the Department of Energy expects to make 15 shipments of transuranic defense waste from down-blended plutonium stocks to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, a contractor executive said last week. Look for the level of such transuranic waste shipments, from the Surplus […]

Moving long-stranded, potentially combustible radioactive waste to the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico from a commercial site in Texas remains a priority, an agency official, told a National Academies of Sciences panel Tuesday. “We are continuing to work on a path forward for the LANL [Los Alamos National Laboratory in […]

Communities near nuclear sites that generate transuranic waste want the Department of Energy to keep the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant open for a long time, based on comments filed recently with New Mexico regulators. Specifically, the Energy Communities Alliance, which advocates for local governments near DOE facilities, said in comments filed April 11 that it […]

The Department of Energy’s former prime contractor at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico and an employee who filed suit in 2021, claiming he was wrongly bypassed for promotion because of his race, have agreed to dismiss the federal court case. As a result, a status conference set for April 12 in the […]

During fiscal 2023, the Department of Energy expects to make 15 shipments of transuranic defense waste from down-blended plutonium stocks to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, a contractor executive said last week. Look for the level of such transuranic waste shipments, from the Surplus […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., received 36 shipments of transuranic waste during March, according to the latest publicly-available figures. The DOE’s public website for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) shows 25 shipments arriving between March 1 and March 31 from the Idaho National Laboratory; four from the Savannah […]

The Department of Energy and a contractor await permission from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to return a problem transuranic waste container, now in a parking lot at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, back to the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, managers in Carlsbad, N.M., said recently. The issue came up […]

The federal government will respond in fewer than two weeks to New Mexico’s request for major changes to the Department of Energy’s long-term transuranic waste disposal program in the state, a senior agency official said at a forum this week. The New Mexico Environment Department is considering a new 10-year hazardous waste permit for the […]

The head of the new prime at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico aims to meet the Department of Energy and dispose of 400 shipments of transuranic waste at the site in 2023. Ken Harrawood, president and project manager for Bechtel’s Salado Isolation Mining Contractors, told a Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Public […]

The federal government will respond in fewer than two weeks to New Mexico’s request for major changes to the Department of Energy’s long-term transuranic waste disposal program in the state, a senior agency official said at a forum Tuesday night. The New Mexico Environment Department is considering a new 10-year hazardous waste permit for the […]

The Department of Energy and a contractor await permission from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to return a problem transuranic waste container, now in a parking lot at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, back to the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, managers in Carlsbad, N.M., said recently. The issue came up […]

An investigative office within the Department of Energy is looking into a December 2022 accident at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina that resulted in an employee of the prime contractor having a finger amputated. The enforcement unit within DOE’s Office of Enterprise Assessments told Savannah River Nuclear Solutions president and CEO Stuart MacVean […]

A federal magistrate judge was assigned to handle pre-trial matters in a racial discrimination lawsuit brought by an employee at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico who claims he was unfairly bypassed for promotion by the former site management contractor. U.S. District Judge James Browning issued an order earlier this […]

New Mexico’s public misgivings about nuclear waste is worrisome in Washington state where the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site is expected to become a big shipper to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in a few years and finish around 2050, a Hanford community representative said this week. “There is one item that is hitting our […]

New Mexico’s public misgivings about nuclear waste is worrisome in Washington state where the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site is expected to become a big shipper to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in a few years and finish around 2050, a Hanford community representative said Tuesday. “There is one item that is hitting our screen […]

Workers at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., are roughly halfway through sinking a new underground utility shaft, site managers said Thursday. Shaft-sinking crews recently surpassed the midway point at 1,076-feet deep, the DOE and its new prime contractor, Bechtel affiliate Salado Isolation Mining Contractors, said in a March 9 […]

A small business solicitation for nuclear cleanup, expected out within the next month, could be the only new one to hit the street by August, the Department of Energy Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center said this week. The DOE previously said the request for proposals (RFP) Small Business Nationwide Deactivation, Decommissioning and Removal contract could […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., received 32 shipments of transuranic waste during February, according to the facility’s public website. The latest monthly figure shows progress over the prior year shipment period, but suggests DOE still must increase its rate over a sustained period to reach the annual levels the […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., received 32 shipments of transuranic waste during February, according to the facility’s public website. The latest monthly figure shows progress over the prior year shipment period, but suggests DOE still must increase its rate over a sustained period to reach the annual levels the […]

The top boss from the Department of Energy’s former prime contractor at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico is now a project manager with the Amentum-led environmental remediation contractor at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, according to his LinkedIn profile. Sean Dunagan was president and project manager of Amentum-led Nuclear Waste Partnership […]

Workers at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., are roughly halfway through sinking a new underground utility shaft, site managers said Thursday. Shaft-sinking crews recently surpassed the midway point at 1,076-feet deep, the DOE and its new prime contractor, Bechtel affiliate Salado Isolation Mining Contractors, said in a March 9 […]

PHOENIX – The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico has since 2017 received only half as many transuranic waste shipments annually as it did prior to a February 2014 underground radiation leak that halted operations for three years – but that could soon change, officials said Wednesday. Encouraged by the startup […]

PHOENIX — The top manager for the Bechtel affiliate now in charge of the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico expects a new underground ventilation system to be operating by late 2025 or early 2026. Ken Harrawood, president and program manager of Salado Isolation Mining, which took over as prime contract […]