WIPP MANNED REENTRY SLATED FOR THIS WEEK

Manned reentry to the Waste isolation Pilot Plant underground is slated for this week, the first time that workers will reenter the underground since the Feb. 14 radiation release at the repository. The move will be major  step toward identifying the cause of the release. The Department of Energy posted Saturday a summary of the recovery plan and schedule developed by  Nuclear Waste Partnership calling for manned reentry between March 30 and April 5. “The initial manned entry consists of a team of eight people. The team will survey conditions from the salt shaft station to the air intake shaft station to establish two usable egress locations-a requirement for future underground work,” states a DOE release. “The team will confirm communications (mine pager phone and regular telephone) with the above ground base station. Last, the team will establish an underground base of operations and establish a clean area for team members to change into or remove protective suits and equipment as they enter and leave the mine.”

 

A few days after the initial reentry, a second team is expected to enter the mine and move toward the suspected release location. “As conditions allow, the team will expand the clean base of operations to allow team members to progress and work their way to the suspected release location (Room 7 of Panel 7),” the release states. “Plans will be refined to isolate and mitigate the source of the release.”