Mike NartkerDOE Issues RFP for Carlsbad Technical Assistance Contract
WC Monitor
4/3/2015
The Department of Energy this week issued a final Request for Proposals for the new technical assistance contract at the Carlsbad Field Office. The small business set-aside contract…
Sarah SalemThe Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico received 53 shipments of transuranic (TRU) waste in September, marking its highest total since April and putting a strong end to a challenging fiscal year.
The September total is significantly…
Members of the New Mexico Congressional delegation serving the area around the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) have lined up $10 million for upkeep of the haul road leading to the nation’s only disposal site for defense-related transuranic…
The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) found multiple problems with how Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) has implemented nuclear safety controls, including deficiencies involving transuranic waste containers, and said the laboratory’s process…
ARLINGTON, Va. — The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., will spend about half of 2027 down for maintenance, DOE and contractor officials told the National Cleanup Workshop here Tuesday.
WIPP will be essentially offline and not receiving waste for two three-month cycles during 2027, said Ken Harrawood, president and general manager of Bechtel-led Salado Isolation Mining Contractors, which manages WIPP for DOE. Three months offline will be followed by three months online to catch up on transuranic waste shipments. This sequence will happen twice in 2027, Harrawood said.
The outages are being used for needed underground hoist upgrades at the salt mine site, Harrawood said.
Even when WIPP is not receiving waste in 2027 it can still excavate salt mine panels to make space for the transuranic waste disposal, Harrawood said.
Waste emplacement at WIPP’s Panel 8 should be finished sometime in 2028, Harrawood said. WIPP plans to have the new Panel 11 fully prepared to start receiving waste then, Harrawood said.
DOE Carlsbad Field Office Manager Mark Bollinger said WIPP should start receiving transuranic waste sometime next year.
Bollinger also said WIPP will soon be receiving larger amounts of the more radioactive remote-handled transuranic waste thanks to shielded-container assemblies approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The shielded containers make the process as safe as handling the less-radioactive contact-handled transuranic waste.
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has removed all high-risk cesium-137 from Vermont, making it the 15th U.S. state or territory declared free of high-risk quantities of the radioactive material.
This follows a July operation in which a team from…
The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico received 29 transuranic (TRU) waste shipments in August, in its first full month following hoist repairs that paused disposal back in May.
By comparison, the facility received 55 waste…
