Revised figures: WIPP received 53 TRU waste shipments in May

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico received 53 defense-related transuranic waste shipments in May, based on revised figures.

DOE revised the figures on its public website for WIPP around June 27 after learning the website initially failed to update and record the 24 shipments that took place between May 18 and May 31, according to an email exchange between WIPP officials and Exchange Monitor. The website issue has been fixed, according to WIPP.  

The total is up from the 49 shipments the plant received in April, and more than the 13 in March when the storage site reopened after a planned outage. By comparison, the facility near Carlsbad, N.M. received 51 total waste shipments in May 2024, according to WIPP’s receipt database.

The 53 shipments from last month include 41 from Idaho National Lab (INL), six from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, and six from Los Alamos National Laboratory, about 350 miles north of WIPP in New Mexico. 

The disposal facility is the nation’s only repository for defense-related transuranic (TRU) waste, material contaminated with radioactive elements during nuclear missions. It typically includes protective clothing, tools, rags, equipment, and miscellaneous items contaminated with small amounts of plutonium.

To date, WIPP has received 209 TRU shipments in fiscal year 2025, which began on Oct. 1, 2024. By comparison, the facility received 292 shipments from October 2023 through May 2024 last fiscal year.

Exchange Monitor initially reported on the May shipments, with the totals that turned out to be incomplete, June 19-20. 

WIPP is managed for DOE by Bechtel’s Salado Isolation Mining Contractors.