Transuranic Waste

Here are events related to nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking: 30: Virtual meeting: DOE and Washington state hold a public meeting on a new transuranic waste facility at Hanford. The session starts at 5:30 p.m. Pacific Time.  30: Earnings call: Parsons earnings call set for 8 a.m. Eastern time.    May:  01: […]

According to an April 4 Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board report, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management approved an exemption request to allow for critical decision 4 approval for the Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System project at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. The Environmental Management office approved the request on March 12, the report said. Critical […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) recorded 13 shipments in March, following an annual maintenance outage that kept it offline since January. The 13 shipments are the first since the facility accepted 29 shipments in December, and a scaledown from March 2024 when WIPP received 23 shipments, according to the site’s receipt […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) recorded 13 shipments in March, following an annual maintenance outage that kept it offline since January. The 13 shipments are the first since the facility accepted 29 shipments in December, and a scaledown from March 2024 when WIPP received 23 shipments, according to the site’s receipt […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., is winding down its maintenance outage to the point it has resumed disposal of defense-related transuranic waste. DOE and Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) prime, Bechtel’s Salado Isolation Mining Contractors, began the outage for refurbishment in January. The weeks-long outage, conducted for repair and replacement projects […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., is winding down its maintenance outage to the point it has resumed disposal of defense-related transuranic waste. DOE and Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) prime, Bechtel’s Salado Isolation Mining Contractors, began the outage for refurbishment in January. The weeks-long outage, conducted for repair and […]

The Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site has completed nearly half of the plutonium downblends it scheduled for fiscal year 2025, the site’s interim manager reported earlier this week.  Managers at the DOE site, located near Aiken, S.C., updated South Carolina’s Nuclear Advisory Council on several production and remediation goals on tap for the fiscal […]

The Department of Energy cleanup contractor at the Idaho National Laboratory continues to find more old drums of transuranic waste with leaks and corrosion problems at the lab’s Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project, according to a safety board. The issue was cited in a regular report on Idaho National Laboratory (INL) remediation work by the […]

A virtual public meeting is scheduled April 30 on a proposal to build a facility to analyze, store and process transuranic and mixed low-level wastes at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. DOE’s Hanford Field Office and the Washington state Department of Ecology will hold the briefing at 5:30 p.m. Pacific Time. […]

The Department of Energy cleanup contractor at the Idaho National Laboratory continues to find more old drums of transuranic waste with leaks and corrosion problems at the lab’s Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project, according to a safety board. The issue was cited in a regular report on Idaho National Laboratory (INL) remediation work by the […]

The member of Congress whose district includes the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico has received written assurance from the General Services Administration that the lease for the DOE Carlsbad Field Office won’t be terminated. A spokesperson for Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.) said Friday the lawmaker has received written word from […]

The member of Congress whose district includes the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico has received written assurance from the General Services Administration that the lease for the DOE Carlsbad Field Office won’t be terminated. A spokesperson for Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.) said Friday the lawmaker has received written word from […]

Two Department of Energy nuclear cleanup offices in New Mexico could be hard hit by the White House deferred-resignation program, according to a list viewed by Exchange Monitor. The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management field offices at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Carlsbad, N.M., office that oversees the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant […]

The Department of Energy said Tuesday it has finished commissioning the long-anticipated new underground ventilation system for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M. The roughly $500-million Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System (SSCVS) is designed to more than triple underground airflow to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), to 540-,000 cubic feet per minute, […]

Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) says Energy Secretary Chris Wright has promised the Department of Energy’s Carlsbad Field Office and Waste Isolation Pilot Plant facilities in New Mexico will stay open.  “I’m pleased to announce that on my call with Secretary Wright, he promised they will stay open,” Heinrich said in a Thursday post on the […]

Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) says Energy Secretary Chris Wright has promised the Department of Energy’s Carlsbad Field Office and Waste Isolation Pilot Plant facilities in New Mexico will stay open.  “I’m pleased to announce that on my call with Secretary Wright, he promised they will stay open,” Heinrich said in a Thursday post on the […]

The Department of Energy said Tuesday it has finished commissioning the long-anticipated new underground ventilation system for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M. The roughly $500-million Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System (SSCVS) is designed to more than triple underground airflow to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), to 540-,000 cubic feet per minute, […]

The Department of Energy said Tuesday it has finished commissioning the long-anticipated new underground ventilation system for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M. The roughly $500-million Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System (SSCVS) is designed to more than triple underground airflow to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), to 540-,000 cubic feet per minute, […]

The House of Representatives member whose district includes the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant expressed alarm Monday at reports the Donald Trump administration might pull the plug on the building housing DOE’s Carlsbad Field Office. Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.) is “deeply concerned about reports indicating that the General Services Administration (GSA) is planning […]

Two Department of Energy nuclear cleanup offices in New Mexico could be hard hit by the White House deferred-resignation program, according to a list viewed by Exchange Monitor. The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management field offices at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Carlsbad, N.M., office that oversees the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant […]

The Huntington Ingalls-led Department of Energy contractor in charge of remediating legacy waste at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico has finished excavating and cutting down to size corrugated metal pipes long buried at Technical Area 54. That is according to an update this week from Newport News Nuclear BWXT Los Alamos (N3B) […]

The Huntington Ingalls-led Department of Energy contractor in charge of remediating legacy waste at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico has finished excavating and cutting down to size corrugated metal pipes long buried at Technical Area 54. That is according to an update this week from Newport News Nuclear BWXT Los Alamos (N3B) […]

WASHINGTON — Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the upper chamber’s top defense appropriator, said Thursday he will not seek reelection in 2026. McConnell will end his four-decade career after having served as the longest-tenured Senate leader in U.S. history, a role he stepped down from ahead of the current Congress and as he took over as […]

After a delay, the subcontractor that built a new ventilation system at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant site in New Mexico is expected to soon turn over the keys to the project to the prime contractor, according to a federal update. A Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNESB) staff report on Waste […]

Citizen groups were largely unimpressed by a Department of Energy plan to define and give priority to what the agency calls “legacy” transuranic waste sent to a deep underground disposal site near Carlsbad, N.M., but the mayor of the city endorsed the approach. That is according to a review of public comments, due Jan. 3, […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., received fewer shipments of defense-related transuranic waste during 2024 than in 2023, a decline that bosses at the underground disposal site hinted at during the fall. With annual results counted, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) finished 2024 with 470 shipments down from 489 […]

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., has commenced its annual maintenance outage and won’t be receiving more shipments of transuranic waste until mid-March, the Department of Energy said Tuesday. Two of the bigger work chores scheduled for the outage include installation of final duct work for the new Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., received fewer shipments of defense-related transuranic waste during 2024 than in 2023, a decline that bosses at the underground disposal site hinted at during the fall. With annual results counted, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) finished 2024 with 470 shipments down from 489 […]

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., has commenced its annual maintenance outage and won’t be receiving more shipments of transuranic waste until mid-March, the Department of Energy said Tuesday. Two of the bigger work chores scheduled for the outage include installation of final duct work for the new Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System […]

After a delay, the subcontractor that built a new ventilation system at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant site in New Mexico was expected to turn over the keys to the project to the prime contractor last month, according to a federal update. A Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNESB) staff report on […]