December 07, 2015

Ground Control Advances at WIPP

By ExchangeMonitor

Workers have installed more than 5,400 steel bolts in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico in the year since ground control operations resumed at the subterranean transuranic waste storage site, the Department of Energy said on Friday.

The bolts are one element of the advancing program to increase safety for personnel in the underground facility, which has been undergoing recovery since a fire and subsequent, unrelated radiation release in February 2014. Both new and replacement bolts have been placed in contaminated and uncontaminated sectors of the facility, DOE said. “These bolts help support and slow the natural movement that occurs in the underground salt formation where WIPP is located,” according to the update.

WIPP is also preparing to being operating a second hybrid bolter, a tool that can be powered by diesel fuel or electricity and will augment ground control operations. “Under the current limited ventilation conditions, the amount of diesel equipment that can be operated in the WIPP underground at any given time is restricted,” DOE said. “ The hybrid machines allow for additional bolting activities, without impacting other operations that require the use of diesel equipment.”

The department has said it plans to issue a new performance measurement baseline for reopening WIPP by the end of the year. The document would replace a plan that called for resuming operations at the site by March 2016, at a cost of $242 million. Energy officials now say the facility will be operating again by the close of next year.

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