The prime contractor for the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico is investigating two separate incidents where technical safety requirement violations occurred at the disposal facility for defense-related transuranic waste, a spokesperson said late Wednesday.
The incidents that led to the violations occurred Aug. 15 and Aug. 16, said the spokesperson for Amentum-led Nuclear Waste Partnership. Neither endangered workers or the environment, the spokesperson said in an email response to an inquiry from the Exchange Monitor.
On Aug. 15, a filter vent plug was found uninstalled from a standard waste box in the contact-handled waste bay at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), near Carlsbad, according to the spokesperson.
According to a site description of the event, a crew member at WIPP spotted a plug that belonged in a solid waste box on a cart somewhere in the waste-handling bay. Personnel subsequently found a box missing one of its plugs.
Due to the non-compliance with WIPP’s waste acceptance criteria, managers entered into limited conditions of operation, the spokesperson said.
But the delay in entering the limited conditions resulted in a violation of a technical safety requirement, filed Aug. 18. The DOE’s technical safety requirements define safe boundaries or administrative controls to minimize the risk of radiation exposure, releases or inadvertent criticalities.
Separately, on Aug. 16, WIPP staff determined work control documents that include instructions for inspecting the mine’s waste hoist braking system were not adequate to ensure the inspections are completed within the required timeframes, resulting in a violation, the spokesperson said.
DOE records indicate a re-measurement of brake pad thickness was not performed within a surveillance requirement grace period.
In response, contractor staff promptly inspected the braking system and determined it to be operating within specifications, the spokesperson said.
“In addition, [Nuclear Waste Partnership] is now rewriting the inspection and performance criteria to ensure the waste hoist brake inspection is completed within the required frequency.”’
“Further corrective actions necessary for responding to both incidents are underway,” the spokesperson said.
