Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (2020 DOE transition)
Book 2 - Issue Papers |
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Entire 2020 DOE Transition book As of October 2020 |
The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is integral to the Department’s cleanup mission and is used to dispose of transuranic waste from atomic energy defense activities. WIPP not only supports legacy cleanup activities, but also ongoing national security and scientific research missions.
Summary
The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico is the nation’s only deep geological disposal site for transuranic (TRU) radioactive waste resulting from atomic energy defense activities. TRU waste consists of tools, rags, protective clothing, sludges, soil, and other materials contaminated with radioactive elements, mostly plutonium. These man-made elements have atomic numbers greater than uranium on the periodic table of elements (thus “trans-uranic” or beyond uranium).
Since the commencement of operations in 1999, WIPP has disposed of approximately 70,000 cubic meters of transuranic waste from 22 different sites. EM has successfully completed TRU waste removal from 15 sites.
EM has had no serious injuries or fatalities during WIPP’s operating history. This includes the transportation of TRU waste shipments to WIPP over 15 million miles without a serious accident .
EM’s shipment rate to WIPP is limited to approximately 10 per week, though the number of actual shipments has been less due to COVID-19. This is expected to increase once a new ventilation system is in operation and when the excavation of a new disposal panel (Panel 8) is completed.
A number of infrastructure projects are needed at WIPP to maintain safety and ensure the facility is available to support DOE missions for the next 30 years. Two key projects underway are the new Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System and the new Utility Shaft.
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has announced plans to utilize WIPP to dispose of up to 7.1 metric tons (MT) of non- pit plutonium as TRU waste. This material is downblended with materials at the Savannah River Site (SRS) that allows the shipments to meet WIPP’s waste acceptance criteria .
DOE is analyzing options for safely removing Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) TRU waste in temporary storage from the Waste Control Specialists, LLC (WCS) facility near Andrews, Texas. EM is working closely with key state and regulatory officials and WCS. At all times the safety of workers, the public and the environment remain DOE’s overriding priority. In the interim, the waste continues to be stored in a safe configuration at WCS.
Issue(s)
EM and NNSA continue to demonstrate progress and evaluate opportunities to accelerate TRU waste disposal .
Status
WIPP-General
Waste emplacement operations were suspended in February 2014, following two unrelated events in the WIPP underground. On February 5, a salt haul truck caught fire, and on February 14, a waste drum in Panel 7, Room 7, breached, resulting in a radioactive release. The release did not pose a public health or environmental hazard, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In January 2017, waste began to be emplaced from above ground, where it had been stored since shipments were halted. Waste shipments to WIPP resumed in April 2017 .
Currently, due to COVID-19, WIPP receives up to approximately 5 shipments of TRU waste per week. Pre-COVID-19, WIPP was receiving up to 10 shipments per week.
FY 2021 shipments are expected to come from the Idaho National Laboratory, LANL, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, SRS, the Sandia National Laboratories, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), and the WCS facility in Andrews, Texas.
A significant issue at WIPP continues to be underground air quality due to lower than normal air flow and diesel equipment exhaust. Mitigating measures underway include use of battery-electric vehicles, as well as booster fans.
WIPP’s first six panels are already filled, with waste emplacement ongoing in Panel 7. Work is underway to mine Panel 8, which is anticipated to be completed in late 2021 .
WIPP Infrastructure Upgrades
Many of the existing WIPP infrastructure systems are beyond their design-life and have been subject to harsh environmental conditions of salt, dust, and high heat .
The new Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System and Utility Shaft will improve underground operations, allowing concurrent mining and waste disposal operations .
Due to air quality concerns, WIPP will be replacing its diesel equipment vehicle fleet with an all battery- electric fleet. The first electric vehicle arrived in the WIPP underground mine in FY 2019 but complete fleet replacement will take a number of years.
EM Support to NNSA Mission
Active coordination is occurring on near-term priorities, especially for LANL and LLNL. Shipments from LLNL to WIPP restarted in September 2020, for the first time in over a decade.
EM continues to downblend oxidized, surplus, non- pit plutonium using facilities in the K-Area Complex at SRS. This material was designated for WIPP disposal in a 2016 Record of Decision.
NNSA published an Amended Record of Decision (AROD) in August 2020, announcing its decision to dispose of up to 7.1 MT of non-pit plutonium as TRU waste at WIPP. This AROD changes the disposition pathway for a portion of the 34 MT of surplus plutonium that DOE/NNSA previously decided to fabricate into Mixed Oxide (MOX) fuel.
Legal
There is a current legal challenge to the methodology WIPP uses to account for the volume of waste (called the volume of record) disposed at WIPP. The case is currently in the New Mexico Court of Appeals.
Milestone(s)
None at WIPP, but various sites often have regulatory commitments associated with TRU waste shipment to and disposal at WIPP.