The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., has commenced its annual maintenance outage and won’t be receiving more shipments of transuranic waste until mid-March, the Department of Energy said Tuesday.
Two of the bigger work chores scheduled for the outage include installation of final duct work for the new Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System as well as rebuilding the so-called salt pocket, DOE said in a Tuesday announcement.
The new ventilation system, undergoing readiness tests, is designed to triple underground airflow. The salt pocket is a massive steel bin where salt, dug from the mine to make room for waste disposal, is placed prior to being lifted 2,100 to the surface of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). Bechtel prime Salado Isolation Mining Contractors is overseeing a subcontractor that is replacing steel and doing other refurbishment work.
“In addition to the new infrastructure, much of our work will focus on conducting inspections, performing maintenance, and making any necessary repairs and replacements on existing equipment” and systems, Salado’s vice president Mike Marksberry, said in the DOE announcement.
The maintenance outage began in the new year, although Tuesday’s announcement did not say what day.
