The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., has completed an annual maintenance outage that started in January.
The outage, which ran from Jan. 5 through March 13, is finished and the underground disposal site for defense-related transuranic waste is once again accepting shipments from around the DOE weapons complex, according to DOE’s press release.
DOE and crews from Bechtel-led prime. Salado Isolation Mining Contractors carried out 145 critical work activities, including 112 preventive maintenance items and 31 corrective actions, according to the press release.
In one of the biggest projects during this year’s outage, crews replaced the core of the waste hoist motor, located five-stories high inside the waste hoist tower, DOE said in the release. The motor controls a half-dozen “head ropes” and three “tail ropes” and a 53-ton counterweight, all vital to moving people, waste and material more than 2,100-feet underground. The hoist can carry up to 75 workers and 45 tons of waste or equipment.
But the hoist is old, installed in the early 1980s. Mark Bollinger, manager of the DOE Carlsbad Field Office., said last week in Phoenix that WIPP would go offline early in 2027 to replace aging steel for the hoist. That outage, likely to start in January, could last several months.
“These planned outages allow us to focus on detailed inspections and maintenance activities that protect our employees, maintain our infrastructure, and ensure we continue operating safely and efficiently,” Bollinger said in the press release.