Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
4021 NATIONAL PARKS HIGHWAY , CARLSBAD, New Mexico, United States

WIPP is the nations only repository for the disposal of nuclear waste known as transuranic, or TRU, waste. It consists of clothing, tools, rags, residues, debris, soil and other items contaminated with small amounts of plutonium and other man-made radioactive elements. Disposal of transuranic waste is critical to the cleanup of Cold War nuclear production sites. Waste from DOE sites around the country is sent to WIPP for permanent disposal.

The U.S. Department of Energys (DOE) Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Is A Deep Geologic Repository For Permanent Disposal Of A Specific Type Of Waste That Is The Byproduct of The Nations Nuclear Defense Program.

CH and RH Waste TRU waste is categorized as "contact-handled" or "remote-handled" based on the amount of radiation does measured at the surface of the waste container. Contact-handled waste has a radiation dose rate not greater than 200 millirem (mrem) per hour, while remote-handled waste can have a dose rate up to 1,000 rem per hour. About 96 percent of the waste to be disposed at WIPP is contact-handled.  TRU waste is long-lived and has to be isolated to protect public health and the environment. Deep geologic disposal in salt beds was chosen because the salt is free of flowing water, easily mined, impermeable and geologically stable. Salt rock also naturally seals fractures and closes openings.  WIPP has been disposing of legacy TRU waste since 1999, cleaning up 22 generator sites nationwide. For more information on the WIPP repository

History

Throughout the 1960s, government scientists searched for an appropriate site for radioactive waste disposal, eventually testing a remote desert area of southeastern New Mexico where, 250 million years earlier, evaporation cycles of the ancient Permian Sea had created a 2,000-foot-thick salt bed.  In 1979, Congress authorized the U.S. Department of Energys (DOE) Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The WIPP facility, located 26 miles southeast of Carlsbad, N.M., was constructed during the 1980s. Congress limited WIPP to the disposal of defense-generated TRU wastes. In 1998, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) certified WIPP for safe, long-term disposal of TRU wastes.  Transuranic, or TRU, waste began accumulating in the 1940s with the beginning of the nations nuclear defense program. As early as the 1950s, the National Academy of Sciences recommended deep disposal of long-lived TRU radioactive wastes in geologically stable formations, such as deep salt beds. Sound environmental practices and strict regulations require such wastes to be isolated to protect human health and the environment.  Bedded salt is free of fresh flowing water, easily mined, impermeable and geologically stable; an ideal medium for permanently isolating long-lived radioactive wastes from the environment. However, its most important quality in this application is the way salt rock seals all fractures and naturally closes all openings.

CARLSBAD FIELD OFFICE

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO) is committed to the protection of the workers, the public and the environment. The DOE owns and oversees the operation of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), the nations only deep geologic repository for defense-related transuranic (TRU) waste and the National TRU Program (NTP).  The mission of the CBFO is to provide safe, compliant and efficient characterization, transportation and disposal of defense-related TRU waste. This includes planning and coordinating TRU waste activities under the NTP related to the characterization, treatment, packaging and transportation of TRU waste at waste generator sites. Only TRU waste that meets the requirements of the Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC) can be permanently emplaced in WIPP.

WASTE PANELS & CAPACITY

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) permanently isolates defense-generated transuranic (TRU) waste 2,150 feet below the surface in an ancient salt formation. Large disposal panels are mined out, with each panel consisting of seven rooms. The rooms are 13-feet high, 33-feet wide and 300-feet long, with a 100-foot beam of salt separating each room. The configuration of the repository has eight panels, with four on each side of the main access drifts. Two additional panels are planned. There are four main access drifts used to transport waste to the panels and for ventilation. Once a panel is filled, it is closed, which includes steel bulkheads.  Panels are not mined until right before they are needed for waste emplacement due to the natural movement of salt, which begins to close the opening within a relatively short period of time. It is this property of salt that led to the selection of a salt bed for the WIPP repository, as over time, the salt will completely encapsulate the waste, safely isolating it from the environment. In active portions of the mine, ground control is needed to maintain mined openings. Ground control includes the installation and maintenance of long steel bolts and wire mesh into the roof and walls.  The underground is accessed using one of four vertical shafts. The largest shaft, with a 20-foot diameter, is used to transport employees, equipment and TRU waste to the underground. The waste hoist has a 45-ton capacity and is capable of transporting 75 employees at one time. Access can also be made using the 10-foot diameter salt shaft. The salt hoist is capable of transporting up to 15 employees, but is primarily used for taking eight tons of salt at a time out of the underground for storage on the surface. The final two shafts are air intake, which brings air into the underground, and exhaust, where air exits.

WASTE CHARACTERIZATION

Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is permitted for the disposal of TRU waste that is transported to WIPP by a certified transportation program using licensed packages. All TRU waste shipped to WIPP from DOE waste generator sites must be characterized by a WIPP-certified program, in compliance with WIPPs disposal, packaging and transportation requirements, as outlined in WIPPs waste acceptance criteria (WAC).  To demonstrate compliance with the transportation and disposal requirements, information about the physical, chemical and radiological properties and packaging of the waste must be known and verified prior to release from a DOE waste generator site. The primary basis for waste characterization is a process known as Acceptable Knowledge (AK). AK is the documentation of all known information on how a TRU waste stream was created and managed and that information is then compiled and documented.

The handling and disposal of contact-handled transuranic waste at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) involves a series of steps. The following is an overview of those steps.

• A waste shipment arrives at the WIPP by tractor-trailer. Each tractor-trailer is capable of carrying up to three Transuranic Packaging Transporter Model IIs (TRUPACT-IIs) or HalfPACTs.
• Upon arrival the tractor trailer and TRUPACT-IIs/HalfPACTs undergo a security inspection, a radiological survey, and a shipping documentation review.
• Once the shipment checks are completed, the tractor-trailer will be parked near the Waste Handling Building for additional inspection and radiological survey.
• A forklift is used to transfer each TRUPACT-II/HalfPACT from the trailer, through an air lock, and into the Waste Handling Building.
• Inside the Waste Handling Building, each TRUPACT-II/HalfPACT is placed in a TRUDOCK, which holds the shipping container in place while workers unload the waste.
• An overhead crane is used to remove the TRUPACT-II/HalfPACT lids.
• Radiological surveys are conducted throughout the waste handling process to confirm waste containers have not sustained damage during shipment or waste container removal.
• The overhead crane then removes the waste containers from the TRUPACT-II/HalfPACT and places them on a facility pallet.
• A forklift moves the loaded facility pallet to the conveyance loading car inside the air lock at the waste handling shaft.
• The conveyance loading car is used to load the facility pallet onto the waste hoist (mine elevator).
• The waste hoist descends 2,150 feet to the WIPP repository.
• An underground transporter pulls the loaded facility pallet off the hoist onto the transporter bed and moves the waste to the disposal area.
• A forklift removes the waste containers from the facility pallet and emplaces it for permanent disposal.
• Bags of magnesium oxide are placed on top of the containers to serve as backfill. The magnesium oxide will control the solubility of radionuclides and is an added measure of assurance to long-term repository performance.