The Department of Energy is targeting late July for resumption of transuranic waste shipments to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M.
In a Wednesday email to Exchange Monitor, the DOE Office of Environmental Management said it intends to start disposing of waste again by the end of July. Although the schedule could still be affected by timing of repairs to underground hoists at WIPP.
If shipments do resume by the end of July, it would be earlier than the mid-August schedule Exchange Monitor reported last week. While DOE has asked for and received a 60-day extension from New Mexico on how long it can temporarily store contact-handled containers of the waste before underground emplacement, it plans to resume disposal in advance of mid-August.
The last shipment of waste recorded on WIPP’s public website was May 26.