The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico received 25 shipments of transuranic (TRU) waste in November.
Through the first 11 months of the calendar year 2025, WIPP has received 408 shipments. That is down from 441 in the same period last year.
The 25 shipments last month is less than the 36 WIPP received in November 2024, but is on par with the lower numbers expected during the holiday season. WIPP does not receive waste on governmental or tribal holidays or during maintenance outages or bad weather days.
Of the 25 shipments last month, 13 came from the Idaho National Laboratory, according to WIPP’s receipt database. Another eight came from the Los Alamos National Laboratory, about 350 miles north of Carlsbad, N.M. where WIPP is located. The Savannah River Site in South Carolina sent four shipments last month.
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 missions. It typically includes protective clothing, tools, rags, equipment, and miscellaneous items contaminated with small amounts of plutonium.
WIPP is managed for DOE by Bechtel’s Salado Isolation Mining Contractors. DOE announced last week that the prime contractor would receive a three-year extension, keeping Salado Isolation Mining on hand through September 2029.