The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M. is in the midst of a winter outage that could last through mid-March, according to a site spokesperson.
During the outage, receipt of transuranic (TRU) waste from various sites across the DOE complex is on hold. The spokesperson could not immediately provide Exchange Monitor with details on when the outage began and what maintenance work and upgrades are being carried out while the disposal site is offline.
After receiving 33 shipments of TRU waste during December, WIPP public website lists no shipments delivered during January 2026.
WIPP’s 2025 outage included installation of final duct work for the new Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System, which has tripled the underground airflow at the 16-square-mile facility. It also included rebuilding the “salt pocket,”a massive steel bin where salt, dug from the mine to make room for waste disposal, is placed prior to being lifted 2,100 to WIPP’s surface.
The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant is the nation’s only repository for defense-related TRU waste, contaminated with radioactive elements during nuclear missions. It typically includes protective clothing, tools, rags, equipment, and miscellaneous items exposed to small amounts of plutonium.