Salt mining at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant is expected to resume within a matter of weeks, a spokesman for site management and operations contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership said last week.

In addition, a director of mining should be hired in early 2018 for the underground transuranic waste storage facility near Carlsbad, N.M.

Nuclear Waste Partnership spokesman Donavan Mager said mining could resume sometime within the next few days to the next few weeks. WIPP had previously indicated mining might start in October or early November. The restart has taken a bit longer than initially thought as the contractor ensures all is well with the new supplemental ventilation system at WIPP, Mager said.

WIPP envisions removing roughly 112,000 tons of salt from Panel 8 over the next few years in order to create space for future waste emplacement.

In addition, NWP has narrowed its field of candidates for the mining director post and expects to announce a new hire early next year. Appointment of a chief mining officer was one of the contract modifications made when DOE announced in September it would extend NWP’s WIPP management contract through September 2020.

WIPP was forced to suspend operations for about three years after a pair of underground accidents in February 2014. It resumed receiving waste shipments from other DOE sites in April. As of late November, the facility had received 107 shipments since April 6, according to a public WIPP website.

During a public meeting in Carlsbad in late September, NWP President and Project Manager Bruce Covert said most equipment needed for mining Panel 8 is ready for use. The contractor had started to mine the new storage panel at the time of the 2014 underground vehicle fire and subsequent, unrelated radiation release.

Resumption of mining and other topics are expected to come up during the next WIPP Town Hall scheduled for 5:30 p.m. MDT (7:30 p.m. EDT) on Wednesday, Dec. 6, at Carlsbad City Hall.