Preview: Reopening WIPP

With the Department of Energy committing to reopening the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant by next December, stakeholders from the federal and New Mexico governments, along with site contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership, on Monday will discuss the continuing work to recover from the February 2014 accidents that have kept the TRU waste storage facility closed for more than two years. Topics will include lessons learned and the path for restarting waste shipments to WIPP from DOE sites across the nation.

The panel, “U.S. DOE WIPP: Lessons Learned and Return to Operations,” is scheduled for 1:30 to 5 p.m. in Room 102BC. Speakers will be: Sean Dunagan, WIPP Recovery Manager, DOE Carlsbad Field Office; Jim Blankenhorn, Deputy General Manager, Nuclear Waste Partnership-AECOM; J.R. Stroble, DOE TRU Sites and Transportation Division Manager; Kathryn Roberts, Director, Resource Protection Division, New Mexico Environment Department; Thomas Peake, Director, Environmental Protection Agency Center for Waste Management and Regulations; James Malmo, Assistant Manager for Waste Disposition, Idaho National Laboratory; and Doug Hintze, Manager, DOE Environmental Management Los Alamos Field Office.