In another step toward normal operations following a pair of February 2014 accidents, the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico resumed long-anticipated salt mining operations on Monday.
The Energy Department and WIPP contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership had been talking about resumption of mining for months, and a spokesman for the company confirmed Wednesday work was underway. The parties also released a press release on Wednesday.
“Resuming mining operations will allow us to continue fully restoring WIPP and fulfilling our important mission of providing a transuranic waste solution for the DOE complex,” DOE Carlsbad Field Office Manager Todd Shrader said in the release. “As with the restart of waste emplacement operations last year, WIPP will take a slow, deliberate approach to mining, keeping safety as a Core Value.”
Panel 8 mining had first started in late 2013, but was suspended after an underground fire and radiological in February 2014, WIPP said in the release.
The resumption of salt mining in WIPP storage Panel 8 will open more space for disposal of transuranic waste from around the DOE complex. Waste emplacement will move to Panel 8 after WIPP crews finish filling Panel 7, WIPP said in the news release. Completion of mining in Panel 8 is scheduled for 2020.
Crews at WIPP use a machine called a continuous miner, which cuts into rock with a rotating drum. A human miner operates the machine, which can generate 10 tons of salt per minute, according to WIPP.
More than 112,000 tons of salt will be removed to complete the panel, which will contain seven disposal rooms for waste disposal. Each room is 300 feet long, 33 feet wide, and 13 feet high, according to WIPP.
WIPP resumed taking waste from other DOE sites in April 2017, and over the course of the year received 133 shipments, according to publicly available data. The site hopes to increase the rate of waste emplacement during 2018.
Waste disposal is suspended for a couple weeks under a maintenance outage that began on Jan. 15. It was unclear if the maintenance outage would affect the just-restarted salt mining operation. The outage manager will confer with both DOE and the contractor before deciding if mining continues during this period, according to Nuclear Waste Partnership spokesman Donavan Mager.
“As of today, priority will be given to completing maintenance activities. Having sufficient ventilation to support simultaneous mining and maintenance activities is the primary driver,” Mager said by email.
