The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico received 55 waste shipments in August.
That’s slightly more than the 50 shipments sent to the facility in August 2024, and the 48 WIPP received in July. The figures are according to DOE’s public website for the underground salt mine disposal site.
Of the 55 shipments sent last month, 33 of them came from the Idaho National Laboratory. An additional 14 came from the Los Alamos National Lab, about 350 miles north of Carlsbad, N.M. where WIPP is located. Seven shipments came from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina , and a single shipment from Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.
The 16-square-mile Waste Isolation Pilot Plant is the nation’s only repository for defense-related transuranic (TRU) waste, material contaminated with radioactive elements during nuclear weapons work It typically includes protective clothing, tools, rags, equipment, and other items contaminated with small amounts of plutonium.
So far, in fiscal 2025, which started Oct. 1, 2024, WIPP has received 371 shipments, with 264 of them coming from the Idaho National Lab. By comparison, the facility received 451 shipments from October 2023 through July 2024 last fiscal year.
WIPP is managed for DOE by Bechtel’s Salado Isolation Mining Contractors.
NEW: Via public records request, I’ve been able to confirm reporting today that a warrant has been issued for DOE deputy asst. secretary of spent fuel and waste disposition Sam Brinton for another luggage theft, this time at Las Vegas’s Harry Reid airport. (cc: @EMPublications)
DOE spent fuel lead Brinton accused of second luggage theft.
by @BenjaminSWeiss, confirming today's reports with warrant from Las Vegas Metro PD.
Waste has been Emplaced! 🚮
We have finally begun emplacing defense-related transuranic (TRU) waste in Panel 8 of #WIPP.
Read more about the waste emplacement here: https://wipp.energy.gov/wipp_news_20221123-2.asp
Editorial: Sam Brinton’s credibility is now an issue 🔓