Transuranic Waste

As preparations continue for Fiscal Year 2015 appropriations bills, New Mexico Sens. Tom Udall (D) and Martin Heinrich (D) are urging the Obama Administration to amend its budget request to respond to the incidents at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. The Department of Energy requested $220.5 million for WIPP for FY’15 but since the request […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 2/14/2014 The White House Office of Management and Budget has blocked funding from being used at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant for thermal testing of disposal of high-level waste in salt, officials said this week. The Fiscal Year 2014 omnibus spending bill enacted last month included $18 million in funding for […]

In the wake of two incidents that have resulted in the ongoing shutdown of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the Senate Armed Services Committee is looking to have the Government Accountability Office review operations at the facility. The Senate version of the Fiscal Year 2015 National Defense Authorization Act would direct the GAO to “review […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/30/2014 A set of internal Los Alamos National Laboratory emails made public this week outline additional changes made in materials used to process transuranic waste at the lab as the Department of Energy continues to investigate how those changes were approved and if they were factors in the radiation release at […]

State Working on Possible Consquences for DOE Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/23/2014 Though it is “highly unlikely” that Los Alamos will meet its June 30 deadline for transuranic waste removal, it is too early to tell what the consequences will be in efforts to renegotiate a consent order with the state of New Mexico concerning […]

Decision Opposed by Rep. Pearce Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/23/2014 After the recent discovery in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant underground of a damaged waste drum that was cracked open, New Mexico has ordered the Department of Energy to develop plans to secure hundreds of similar drums  at Los Alamos and close open panels at […]

Request May be ‘Heavy Lift’ for Lawmakers Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 5/23/2014 As Congressional appropriators prepare to mark up funding bills for Fiscal Year 2015, the Department of Energy has told lawmakers that about an extra $140 million may be needed for recovery efforts at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant next year, WC Monitor has learned. The […]

There will be “consequences” for the Department of Energy for a lack of communication with New Mexico over radiation monitor readings in the initial days after the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant release, New Mexico Environment Department Secretary Ryan Flynn said last week. “It’s totally unacceptable for the Department of Energy to wait five days from […]

After New Mexico this week ordered the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant to develop a plan to close two underground panels holding suspect waste drums, Rep. Steve Pearce (R-N.M.) is questioning the decision. Earlier this week, the New Mexico Environment Department ordered the Department of Energy and WIPP’s contractor to develop a plan for the expedited […]

Following the discovery of a waste drum containing nitrate salts that may have led to a reaction in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the New Mexico Environment Department yesterday ordered the expedited closure of two waste panels in the WIPP underground that contain hundreds of similar drums. Expeditions into the WIPP underground have showed drums […]

After the discovery of a damaged drum from Los Alamos National Laboratory in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the New Mexico Environment Department yesterday ordered WIPP and LANL to secure 57 similar suspect containers. A leading theory is that nitrate salts in drums from Los Alamos may have reacted with a new organic kitty litter […]

A damaged and burnt drum from Los Alamos National Laboratory discovered in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant underground may have contributed to the site’s Feb. 14 radiation release, the Department of Energy said late last week. A photo from the May 15 entry into the mine’s Panel Seven posted here shows a black waste drum […]

With shipments of transuranic waste from Los Alamos National Laboratory on hold while officials investigate drums from the site, the June 30 deadline is at risk if shipments don’t restart soon, New Mexico Environment Department Secretary Ryan Flynn told WC Monitor yesterday. After the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant shut down three months ago due to […]

Local officials in Carlsbad, N.M., are pushing the Department of Energy to block the recent award of a $24.5 million Waste Isolation Pilot Plant subcontract to Tennessee-based TFE. URS-led M&O contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership last week announced the TFE award of the subcontract to manage records at WIPP over the incumbent Stoller. Carlsbad officials say […]

A team probing further into the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant last weekend discovered melted plastic and rubber on top of waste drums, supporting theories that a reaction triggered by heat led to the Feb. 14 radiation release at the repository. Officials said last week that they were examining the possibility that a reaction between nitrate […]

While Oak Ridge’s Transuranic Waste Processing Center will continue processing contact-handled waste during the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant shutdown, storage space for remote-handled waste may become an issue, a DOE official said yesterday. While TWPC operations are continuing during the WIPP suspension, storage of processed and packaged waste at Oak Ridge is the challenge. “With […]

The Department of Energy, national labs and Waste Control Specialists are all scrutinizing transuranic waste drums from Los Alamos National Laboratory that may have led to the Feb. 14 radiation release at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. While LANL has been the focus of a high-profile accelerated effort to remove aboveground transuranic waste, late last […]

The Department of Energy is evaluating whether a reaction in waste drums from Los Alamos National Laboratory led to the Feb. 14 radiation release at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant and has meanwhile suspend shipments of some of the drums to Waste Control Specialists, the Department said Friday. LANL has been the focus of a […]

A long-awaited report by a Department of Energy task force examining alternatives to the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility concluded that downblending surplus plutonium and disposing of it at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant was determined to be the least expensive option by billions of dollars. The Plutonium Disposition Working group formed last June after DOE […]

More than 75 of the transuranic waste containers slated for shipment from Los Alamos National Laboratory to Waste Control Specialists may not meet the current WCS acceptance criteria, complicating a high-profile push to remove all aboveground LANL transuranic waste by the end of June, WC Monitor has learned. The Department of Energy is sending the […]

Poor safety culture and an inadequate ventilation system were significant factors in the Feb. 14 radiological release at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant resulting in the ongoing shutdown, the head of the Department of Energy investigation into the incident said yesterday. The DOE report, set to be made public today, cites failures with WIPP management […]

An investigation into the initial response to the Feb. 14 radiation release at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant by a Department of Energy Accident Investigation Board could be released as early as today. The report is expected to be highly critical of initial response efforts by both DOE and URS-led WIPP contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership. […]

The Department of Energy yesterday announced that it has formed its Waste Isolation Pilot Plant federal recovery team, naming DOE officials Mark Senderling and Tom Teynor to head the group. The team was formed in response to the incidents occurring at WIPP more than two months ago—the Feb. 5 salt truck fire and the Feb. […]

Results from aboveground air sampling stations in and around the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant property have returned to near background levels, according to data released Friday by the independent Carlsbad Environmental Monitoring and Research Center. Samples analyzed from March 11 and March 21 “indicate that the trace amounts of radioactive particles that were ultimately released […]

While the Department of Energy said over the weekend that workers would go deeper into the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant this week to identify the source of the Feb. 14 radiation release, it appears that the schedule may be pushed back. “We previously reported that workers would be able to re-enter the mine this week […]

After setting up a second base of operations in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant underground Friday, workers hope to identify the source of the contamination this week. The underground has been shut down since a Feb. 14 radiation release, and on Friday a team established another base in an uncontaminated area to allow them to […]

The first shipment of Los Alamos transuranic waste arrived at the Waste Control Specialists facility in Texas yesterday for temporary storage during the shutdown of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. The storage will take place under a one-year $8.8 million contract between WCS and WIPP contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership. WIPP has been shut down since […]

Workers reentered the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant yesterday for the first time since the Feb. 14 radiation release after a delay earlier this week due to a lack of real time radiation monitors. In separate shifts, two eight person teams entered the mine and established an underground base of operations that will aid in efforts […]

Though the Department of Energy said it planned to reenter the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant underground yesterday, the operation was delayed due to a lack of real-time radiation monitors. The Department earlier this week announced its intent to send a team of eight recovery workers into the mine April 1 for the first time since […]

Manned reentry into the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant underground is expected to occur today for the first time since the Feb. 14 radiation release. The move will mark a major step forward in recovery efforts, and officials hope to soon be able to identify the source of the release. "A team of eight radiological control, mine […]