The Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., received 133 shipments of transuranic waste during the first five months of 2018, the same number it received for disposal during almost eight months of operation in 2017.
That rounds out to roughly six shipments of TRU waste per week, based on about 22 weeks between Jan. 1 and May 31. That compares to less than four shipments per week for 38 weeks after the underground waste disposal facility in April 2017 reopened to shipments from other DOE sites.
The site was closed for nearly three years after a February 2014 underground radiation release, resuming operations in January 2017 with emplacement of waste drums that had been stranded above-ground at the site.
The Energy Department’s Carlsbad Field Office, which oversees WIPP, anticipates receiving about 300 shipments during the 12 months from February 2018 and February 2019.
Waste emplacement at WIPP was halted for about a week in May after discovery of a misaligned waste drum in a canister shipped from another facility.
