The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico received 59 transuranic (TRU) waste shipments last month.
That is more than the 53 shipments it received in May and is the highest total the facility has received since the 64 shipments sent to WIPP in June 2024.
Of the 59 shipments, 45 of them came from the Idaho National Lab (INL), according to WIPP’s receipt database. Another eight came from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, and six from the Los Alamos National Lab, about 350 miles north of Carlsbad, N.M. where WIPP is located.
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.
So far, in fiscal 2025, which started Oct. 1, 2024, WIPP has received 268 shipments, with 197 of them coming from the Idaho National Lab. By comparison, the facility received 356 shipments from October 2023 through June 2024 last fiscal year.
WIPP is managed for DOE by Bechtel’s Salado Isolation Mining Contractors.
