Transuranic Waste

WC Monitor 10/23/2015 WIPP Emergency Ops Center Complete Workers recently completed construction on a 4,000-square-foot, “state-of-the-art” emergency operations center at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, according to a WIPP press release. The Skeen-Whitlock Building, which houses the Energy Department’s Carlsbad Field Office, was remodeled over the past several months to make room for the center. […]

Workers recently completed construction on a 4,000-square-foot, “state-of-the-art” emergency operations center, according to a recent Waste Isolation Pilot Plant press release. The Skeen-Whitlock Building, which houses the Energy Department’s Carlsbad Field Office, was remodeled over the past several months to make room for the center. “The physical changes include a primary [emergency ops center] area, […]

Chris Schneidmiller WC Monitor 10/16/2015 The state of New Mexico is losing patience with the failure to yet finalize settlements with the Department of Energy over high-profile incidents at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant and waste management problems at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, state Environment Secretary Ryan Flynn told WC Monitor. DOE in April […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 10/16/2015 The Government Accountability Office on Oct. 8 denied Aerostar Perma-Fix TRU Services LLC’s (APT Services) protest of the Energy Department’s June 18 award of a three- to five-year, $123.9 million support services contract for operation of the Oak Ridge Transuranic Waste Processing Center to North Wind Solutions, LLC, according to […]

The Government Accountability Office on Oct. 8 denied Aerostar Perma-Fix TRU Services’ (APT Services) protest of the Energy Department’s June 18 award of a three- to five-year $123.9 million support services contract for the Oak Ridge Transuranic Waste Processing Center to North Wind Solutions, according to an Oct. 9 press release from DOE’s Office of […]

In the Oct. 2 edition of Weapons Complex Monitor, an article about the reopening of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant incorrectly stated that Panel 7 will no longer require people to wear “additional” radiological protection equipment, yet it is and will remain posted as a “contamination area.” In actuality, the pathway to Panel 7 no […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 10/9/2015 The Los Alamos National Laboratory will likely reach its transuranic waste storage capacity in “approximately” fiscal 2017, according to a recently released Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board report. TRU waste storage areas include Area G, Technical Area 55, and the yet-to-be-completed Transuranic Waste Facility, according to the Aug. 14 report. […]

Brian Bradley WC Monitor 10/2/2015 Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz on Tuesday reaffirmed his department’s belief that the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico is on track to reopen by the end of next year. His statement came two months after DOE acknowledged that it would not be possible to resume operations at the […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 10/2/2015 A commissioner with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Thursday pondered to whether the body should add transuranic waste to the current 10.CFR.61 rulemaking changes. Commissioner Jeffrey Baran during a NRC hearing on the agency’s low-level radioactive waste business line inquired as to whether the commission would be more prudent […]

About two months after the Energy Department announced the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant could not be recovered before the previously planned date of March 2016, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz yesterday said that the facility is still on track to reopen by Dec. 31, 2016. “This has been a terribly costly situation to all of us, […]

CORRECTION: Weapons Complex Morning Briefing yesterday incorrectly reported that Panel 7 at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant had been recovered from radioactive contamination. In actuality, workers have completed zone recovery activities along a pathway to Panel 7.. Weapons Complex Morning Briefing regrets the error. 

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant’s Panel 7 has been recovered from radioactive contamination after “months of catch-up rock bolting and contamination mitigation,” following WIPP’s February 2014 closure that was spurred by a radiological release, the facility announced late last week. The 2014 radiological release occurred in Panel 7. “Panel 7, which consists of seven disposal […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 9/25/2015 As with other Department of Energy sites impacted by the ongoing suspension of operations at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, the shipments of transuranic waste at Oak Ridge have been placed on hold – although processing and certification of wastes continue. The situation in Tennessee is complicated […]

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico last week conducted its annual emergency exercise even as it works to recover from two 2014 emergencies. The single-day event on Sept. 16 was intended to assess the nuclear waste storage site’s capacity to “recognize, respond, contain and mitigate an emergency situation that might occur at WIPP,” […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 9/18/2015 As the Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week winds down its public comment period for the proposed 10.CFR.61 rulemaking changes, a looming potential addition could delay the rulemaking by an additional three to four years, a NRC official said last week at the 2015 RadWaste Summit in Summerlin, Nev. With […]

Alissa Tabirian WC Monitor 9/18/2015 The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is taking steps to address materials-at-risk (MAR) concerns to resume transuranic (TRU) waste receipts at its Area G nuclear waste disposal site, according to a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) site representative report released last week. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management officials […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 9/18/2015 The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is taking steps to address materials-at-risk (MAR) concerns to resume transuranic (TRU) waste receipts at its Area G nuclear waste disposal site, according to a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) site representative report released last week. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management officials […]

The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is taking steps to address materials-at-risk (MAR) concerns to resume transuranic (TRU) waste receipts at its Area G nuclear waste disposal site, according to a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) site representative report released last week. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management officials and the National Nuclear Security […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 9/11/2015 SUMMERLIN, NEV.—The re-opening of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant will take state precedence over a possible consolidated interim storage facility in New Mexico, NM’s Environment Department Secretary Ryan Flynn said this week at the 2015 RadWaste Summit. While Flynn remains supportive of the local communities effort to license and […]

Chris Schneidmiller WC Monitor 9/11/2015 SUMMERLIN, NV – As it strives to reopen the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the Department of Energy is also taking steps to prevent nuclear waste containers from causing another incident like the one that has shut down the underground storage facility, a senior DOE official said on Thursday. “Not only […]

Carlsbad, N.M. Mayor Dale Janway disputed former Energy Secretary and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson’s recent claims that the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant would have to expand and adopt new waste policies to accept the material result of downblending some34 metric tons of weapons-grade plutonium designated for disposal. Released yesterday, a letter sent by Janway […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 9/4/2015 The reopening of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant should be the Department of Energy’s main nuclear waste cleanup concern, Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) said recently. The transuranic waste repository has been closed to new shipments since a fire and subsequent radiation release in February 2014. DOE announced last month […]

Chris Schneidmiller WCM Monitor 9/4/2015 Department of Energy officials said early this week that the manager of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant was expected within a matter of days to submit a new draft schedule and funding requirement to resume storage operations at the New Mexico facility. As of Friday morning, there was no formal […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 9/4/2015 The reopening of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant should be the Department of Energy’s main nuclear waste cleanup concern, Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.)said recently. The transuranic waste repository has been closed to new shipments since a fire and subsequent radiation release in February 2014. DOE announced last month that […]

At least one worker at the Oak Ridge Transuranic Waste Processing Center appeared to be exposed to radiation contamination during an incident in July, according to a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board site representative report released this week. The July 31 document said the incident occurred “late last week” during extraction of a lead-shielded container […]

The Department of Energy on Monday said it had selected a veteran staffer to lead the office that oversees the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. Todd Shrader will take over for Carlsbad Field Office acting manager Dana Bryson, who last week announced his retirement from the DOE as of Oct. 2. “Todd Shrader […]

The manager of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant is expected within a matter of days to provide the Department of Energy with a new draft schedule and funding requirement to resume storage operations at the New Mexico facility, DOE officials said. WIPP stopped accepting shipments of transuranic waste from other nuclear sites following a Feb. […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 8/7/2015 Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) intends to resubmit to the Department of Energy (DOE) Field Office the Evaluation of the Safety of the Situation/Justification for Continued Operations (ESS/JCO) concerning safety basis limits at the Area G nuclear waste disposal site, National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) spokesman Al Stotts told NS&D […]

Chris Schneidmiller WC Monitor 8/7/2015 The Department of Energy said this week that faulty equipment and other challenges had forced it to delay the resumption of nuclear waste intake at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. The underground storage facility has not accepted shipments of transuranic nuclear waste since a Feb. 5, 2014, […]

The Department of Energy activated last night the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Emergency Operations Center as a precautionary measure in response to slightly elevated radiological readings at the WIPP site. According to DOE, at approximately 6 p.m. MST, radiological control technicians detected minute levels of radiation on the filter at Station B where air […]