Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP)

The Energy Department has canceled a meeting that was expected to be the forum for a major announcement about whether the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant would be ready to resume disposal of nuclear waste this year. Sources said Tuesday DOE canceled the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) town hall scheduled for Thursday. The move will […]

VIENNA – U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz said Monday that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will monitor the dilution and disposal of 6 metric tons of excess plutonium at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C. Moniz announced during the opening ministerial segment of the IAEA’s International Conference on Nuclear Security: Commitments and Actions […]

As soon as Thursday, the Energy Department could declare it is ready to once again dispose of nuclear waste at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant after a nearly three-year pause. At 8:30 p.m. Eastern time that day, DOE and the city of Carlsbad, N.M., plan to webcast their latest quarterly Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) […]

Waste Control Specialists is seeking leniency from federal regulators after apparently violating its federal waste-storage permit to prevent a possible radiation release in 2014, according to an official account the company filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The 12-page account, the most detailed Waste Control Specialists (WCS) has offered publicly on the situation, is printed […]

This week, as the Energy Department weighed decisions that will determine if the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) reopens in 2016, news broke that New Mexico’s U.S. senators believe the facility needs tens of millions of dollars more than expected to safely resume nuclear waste disposal. After numerous setbacks this year, DOE and site contractor […]

South Carolina wants a U.S. District Court judge to reconsider her recent opinion that she has no jurisdiction to rule on the $100 million the state is seeking in its lawsuit over disposition of DOE plutonium stored at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C. State Attorney General Alan Wilson sued the Energy Department, Energy Secretary […]

A recently released report from the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Inspector General (IG) identifies seven significant management challenges facing the agency in fiscal 2017. They are: financial assistance and contract management; cybersecurity; environmental cleanup; nuclear waste disposal; safeguards and security; stockpile stewardship; and infrastructure modernization. All but one of these categories were previously identified […]

The Energy Department is scheduled on Friday to complete the last agency-led review standing in the way of reopening the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) for transuranic waste-disposal operations, sources in New Mexico said Wednesday. DOE is set to conduct its exit interview with WIPP prime contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership (NWP) in the early afternoon, local […]

Waste Control Specialists is seeking leniency from federal regulators after apparently violating its federal waste-storage permit to prevent a possible radiation release in 2014, according to an official account the company filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The 12-page account, the most detailed Waste Control Specialists (WCS) has offered publicly on the situation, is printed […]

The Energy Department is due to conclude this week its final review of whether the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico is ready to reopen for transuranic waste disposal nearly three years after a pair of accidents closed the deep-underground facility. DOE on Nov. 14 began an operational readiness review that was expected to take […]

A new report from the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Inspector General (IG) identifies seven significant management challenges facing the agency in fiscal 2017. They are: financial assistance and contract management; cybersecurity; environmental cleanup; nuclear waste disposal; safeguards and security; stockpile stewardship; and infrastructure modernization. All but one of these categories were previously identified as […]

A final, crunch-time review to determine if the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is ready to receive nuclear waste for the first time in nearly three years will take less time to finish than once thought, the Department of Energy announced Tuesday. The DOE-led operational readiness review that began Monday, as first reported in Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, will […]

A final, crunch-time review to determine if the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is ready to receive nuclear waste for the first time in nearly three years will take less time to finish than once thought, the Department of Energy announced Tuesday. The DOE-led operational readiness review that began Monday, as first reported in Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, […]

The federal fiscal 2017 budget request unveiled Tuesday proposed a monumental, long-term change for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico: making the facility the final destination for 34 metric tons of diluted weapon-usable plutonium that would arrive sometime in the early 2020s. In the near term, the White House proposed lowering WIPP’s […]