An uptick in COVID-19 cases and some uneven underground floor conditions led the Department of Energy to temporarily halt disposal of defense-related transuranic waste at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant recently, according to a safety board report.
An increase in COVID cases required some Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) workers to quarantine, according to a regular monthly site report by Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) staff dated Sept. 3 and recently posted on the board’s website. “Uneven floor conditions discovered in the underground resulted in a halt to disposal operations,” according to the document.
As a consequence of these and related factors, the DOE Carlsbad Field Office “was forced to limit the number of shipments the site could receive in this month,” according to the report to DNFSB’s technical director Christopher Roscetti.
The WIPP problems would help explain why the disposal facility took in only seven shipments during the month of August, a major fall off from the 41 recorded in July.
Representatives from WIPP did not immediately respond Wednesday on the current status, although, at deadline, the disposal plant’s public website still did not show any new shipments since Aug. 25.
