The ongoing work in the pilot plant for waste isolation promotes the goal of nuclear waste

A stroll through the surface and underground of the pilot waste isolation facility revealed numerous changes taking place on the site to support its mission for potential decades.

At WIPP, Transuranic (TRU) nuclear waste, consisting of clothing materials and equipment that has been irradiated during nuclear activities at Department of Energy sites across the country, is permanently disposed of in a salt formation approximately 2,000 feet below the surface.

The waste is stored in plates that break down in the salt formation, which gradually collapse and bury the waste, as salt is seen as an ideal radiation blocker.

More:The waste isolation pilot plant increases shipments of nuclear waste as COVID-19 appears to be on the decline

WIPP workers are currently storing waste in the seventh of eight panels described in the operating permit, but two more are planned for future use as space was lost in an incident in 2014 when parts of the subsurface were contaminated by radiation.

The events could be traced back to an improperly packaged drum that burst underground and resulted in a three-year suspension of WIPP’s waste storage activities.

A tour group is walking in a geological repository, the US Department of Energy's pilot waste isolation facility, and dumps transuranic radioactive waste in the desert between Hobbs and Carlsbad on Tuesday, August 17, 2021

Reinhard Knerr, manager of the DOE’s Carlsbad Field Office, said these new panels will not mark and expand WIPP’s mission, but rather provide a way to meet the legal obligation to dispose of 6.2 million cubic feet of waste even after the event has lost space 2014 to be met.

More:The waste isolation pilot plant needs more space to dispose of nuclear waste, officials say

However, he said the facility has some tentative plans to operate through 2050, with the country’s TRU waste inventory potentially extending WIPP’s lifespan to 2070.

To complement WIPP further, Knerr said the DOE will conduct further analysis, work with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED), and hold meetings to assess public opinion.

“It’s not an extension,” Knerr said of the two added panels. “Until Congress approves an increase in this limit, we will not expand WIPP. The Department of Energy has only made a decision for two replacement panels. We believe that we need greater stakeholder involvement for further increases. “

More:Cold War nuclear waste comes from the Idaho National Laboratory to the pilot waste isolation facility

A freshly cut salt room is pictured in a geological repository, the U.S. Department of Energy's pilot waste isolation facility, which is storing transuranic radioactive waste in the desert between Hobbs and Carlsbad on Tuesday, August 17, 2021

On the surface of WIPP

On the surface of WIPP, thousands of feet above its core nuclear waste disposal operation, everything at work revolves around airflow.

Two major projects were underway: a conversion of the plant’s ventilation system to remove air and the construction of a supply shaft to direct air underground.

The underground air available was limited by the contamination from the 2014 incident and meant that subsurface operations were restricted.

More:WIPP accepts the 100th shipment from the Tennessee plant since the incident in 2014

When the projects are completed, which are estimated in 2050, the facility will increase its airflow from approximately 170,000 cubic feet per minute (cfm) to 540,000 cfm.

This allows waste to be stored and dismantled at the same time, allowing WIPP to continue to create more space for waste while working towards the goal of receiving and processing 17 transports of TRU waste per week, compared to the current rate of around 10 weekly transports .

“It allows us to move on. It enables us to accomplish our mission, ”said Terry McKibben, project leader for the conversion of the ventilation system known as the Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System (SSCVS). “We can do more things at the same time. We will be able to store waste and mine at the same time.

“This makes the system run more efficiently.”

More:WIPP: 100 million dollar contract awarded for technical support at the nuclear waste storage facility near Karlovy Vary

The SSCVS takes in air from underground, passes it through a series of filters, and releases it into the air, while the supply duct increases air for workers to breathe.

This shaft is currently approximately 116 feet below the surface from approximately 2,100 feet.

Further sinking of the shaft was halted last year because NMED refused to renew a Temporary Permit (TA) to build the shaft while considering a change in the permit to operate.

NMED cited concerns about the COVID-19 health crisis and growing case numbers at WIPP in rejecting the TA, and opponents of the project such as Albuquerque-based watchdog group Southwest Research and Information Center expressed concerns that the project may not be needed.

More:What’s going on at WIPP? Construction projects in the nuclear waste facility are ongoing

The U.S. Department of Energy's pilot waste isolation facility for the storage of transuranic radioactive waste is pictured from a property in the desert between Hobbs and Carlsbad on Tuesday, August 17, 2021

However, the workers were still allowed to equip the maintenance of the first 116 feet of the shaft, said project manager Mark Reiss.

“We hope the permit change will be approved this year,” he said. “As you go through the approval process, allow both sides to present their case. For an underground operation you need air. “

Sean Dunagan, President of Nuclear Waste Partnership – WIPP’s prime contractor – said adequate air circulation was essential to the facility’s ability to accomplish its mission while keeping workers safe.

More:Low dose: Scientists are studying the effects of low radiation on organisms in the pilot waste isolation facility

During the construction of the SSCVS, WIPP plans to restart a fan that was deactivated after the 2014 incident.

The DOE and the Nuclear Waste Partnership conducted a series of tests earlier this year to ensure that the radiation released from the use of the fan posed no risk to the site or the surrounding community.

The fan would be used until the SSCVS goes online, and only during mining operations – never in the middle of garbage disposal activities, Dunagan said.

“We urgently need it underground,” said Dunagan. “We have been paralyzed since the (2014) events. This will give us airflow over where we have been. It will allow us to get the surgeries we want.

“We have ventilation in a practicable form. But it is not ideal in any shape or form. “

Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-618-7631, [email protected], or @AdrianHedden on Twitter.

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