The Energy Department and its prime contractor received 169 shipments of transuranic waste for disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico during the first six months of 2018.
That averages out to 6.5 shipments per week for the first 26 weeks of the year. By comparison, there were 133 shipments, or less than four shipments per week for 38 weeks, after the underground disposal facility in April 2017 reopened to shipments from other DOE sites.
The Energy Department calculates the rate differently, basing it only on the weeks which WIPP is operating, which omits outages for maintenance, weather, holidays and certain other reasons.
Of the 169 shipments during the first half of this year, 22 came from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee; 13 came from the Waste Control Specialists site in Texas; and the remaining 134 came from the Idaho National Laboratory.
Under a 1995 settlement agreement with Idaho, DOE committed to taking all of its transuranic waste out of the state by Dec. 31, 2018. It’s a deadline that might not be met, given that WIPP was offline for about three years after an underground radiological release in February 2014.
In June, DOE and prime contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership broke ground on WIPP’s new permanent ventilation system, designed to increase underground airflow to 540,000 cubic feet per minute: more than three times current levels. The $288-million project will allow simultaneous waste disposal, salt mining and maintenance work. Site preparation is well underway for the project, which is expected to be completed in 2021.
Officials say the permanent ventilation system is needed in order for WIPP to resume its pre-2014 waste emplacement levels. The underground facility received 724 shipments during 2013, which was the last full year of operation before the accident.
The facility also resumed salt mining in January for the first time since 2014. Almost 17,000 tons of salt rock has been mined as of July 15, NWP spokesman Donavan Mager said in an email. The mining is taking place in Panel 8, while emplacement is occurring in Panel 7.
In May, regular transuranic waste handling at WIPP was suspended for a few days after workers repacked a seven-pack of waste drums that contained a leaning, or misaligned, waste container. The container was discovered May 24 and normal waste disposal resumed on June 2.
The Energy Department and NWP will hold their next WIPP Town Hall update on Aug. 2 in Carlsbad, N.M. These public briefings on the underground transuranic waste disposal site are webcast.
Officials had initially planned to have the briefing this month, but it had to be postponed because of scheduling conflicts. The meeting should start around 5:30 p.m., according to Mager.
Carlsbad Field Office Manager Todd Shrader and NWP President and Project Manager Bruce Covert typically give updates on short-term and long-term issues facing WIPP. The most recent WIPP briefing was April 19.
