WIPP records 48 waste shipments in July

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico received another 48 shipments of transuranic (TRU) waste in July, bringing its total this calendar year to 222 shipments. 

Last month’s total is three more than the 45 WIPP received in July 2024, and the third highest total this year, following the 59 shipments sent to WIPP in June and 53 in May.

Of the 48 shipments last month, 34 of them came from the Idaho National Laboratory, according to WIPP’s receipt database. Another 10 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 three shipments and a single shipment came from Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. 

The 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 316 shipments, with 231 of them coming from Idaho. By comparison, the facility received 401 shipments from October 2023 through July 2024 last fiscal year.

WIPP is managed for DOE by Bechtel’s Salado Isolation Mining Contractors.