Brian Bradley
WC Monitor
10/9/2015
The Los Alamos National Laboratory will likely reach its transuranic waste storage capacity in “approximately” fiscal 2017, according to a recently released Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board report. TRU waste storage areas include Area G, Technical Area 55, and the yet-to-be-completed Transuranic Waste Facility, according to the Aug. 14 report. “The key drivers for this forecast are WIPP availability and safety basis limits for Area G,” the report states. “The vast majority of waste generation stems from key risk reduction activities at the Plutonium Facility and the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research (CMR) building.” The activities include residue processing and vault cleanout under the material recycle and recovery program, legacy equipment and materials cleanout for plutonium-238 operations, confinement vessel disposition operations, and removal of legacy glove boxes and equipment required to implement the lab’s plutonium Infrastructure Strategy and stop operating CMR.
The Department of Energy plans to reopen the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, designated as the final resting place for all U.S. TRU waste, by the end of 2016. National Nuclear Security Administration Field Office spokeswoman Toni Chiri did not say what options LANL is considering to safely store TRU in fiscal 2017 and beyond, but emphasized safety. “We are evaluating all potential options to continue to provide safe storage of transuranic waste until WIPP is available for the disposal of LANL waste,” she said by email.
