The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) has asked the Department of Energy for a briefing on plans to refurbish an old shaft and hoist relied upon for emergency evacuation of underground workers at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP).
“Despite long-standing recognition of underlying problems, age-related degradation and technical obsolescence issues with the shafts and hoists used for emergency egress have not been addressed in a timely manner,” at WIPP near Carlsbad, N.M., DNFSB said in a letter.
The June 18 letter signed by DNFSB Acting Chair Thomas Summers centers around WIPP’s Salt Handling Shaft and its associated hoist and conveyance system. Key vertical shafts and hoists at WIPP are old and replacement parts are getting harder to find, according to DNFSB.
“All three escapeway hoists have significant material condition issues based on age that affect reliability,” DNFSB said. “The three hoists and associated components are over 30 years old and are no longer being manufactured.”
DNFSB asked Secretary of Energy Chris Wright and executives at the DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) for a briefing within 120 days. That would be around Oct. 16.
DOE and WIPP prime Salado Isolation Mining Contractors “are confident that worker safety has never been compromised,” DOE said Monday via an email to the Exchange Monitor. “Access to the underground is limited or restricted when hoist systems are not fully functional. The WIPP site effectively manages any equipment operability issues without significant impact to the overall mission,” DOE said.
In addition, a DOE spokesperson said WIPP’s salt pocket refurbishment is almost completed and expected to be fully operational within a matter of weeks.
DNFSB requested a timeline to “reduce the risk from degraded escapeway hoists to facility workers, including any interim compensatory measures necessary to ensure the safety of ongoing operation.”
The briefing should also cover “evaluation of the adequacy of existing site aging infrastructure management processes based on recent experiences with degraded shafts and escapeway hoists,” DNFSB said.
The letter and accompanying memo was recently posted on DNFSB’s website. The Government Accountability Office said last month that WIPP is facing lots of remaining infrastructure work.