The Department of Energy and the prime contractor for the Waste isolation Pilot Plant on Jan. 31 completed an early test of the long-idle 700-C fan, expected by this summer to augment underground airflow pending completion of a major new ventilation system.
Construction of the Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System, meant to increase airflow to 540,000 cubic feet per minute, is at least a couple of years away from completion. The timeline for that system is being re-baselined after the subcontractor responsible for building it was terminated last summer.
The fan test completed Jan. 31 was delayed a couple of weeks due to weather. The DOE plans full operation of the fan by this summer. Doing so will increase underground airflow during certain work, such as roof bolting, DOE officials have said during a virtual meeting during December. In a statement Tuesday, the agency’s Carlsbad Field Office Manager Reinhard Knerr called the test a success.
During the four-hour test, air monitoring was done by both WIPP prime contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership and New Mexico State University’s Carlsbad Environmental Monitoring and Research Center, DOE said in the statement.
As a precaution, only staff involved in the testing, and essential safety and security employees were allowed onsite, DOE said.
The 700-C fan has not been used since 2014. In February 2014 an underground radiation leak at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant forced the transuranic waste disposal site out of service for about three years.
Restarting the fan should allow an unfiltered underground airflow capacity of up to 240,000 cubic feet per minute, or a 94,000 cubic feet per minute increase over the existing systems, DOE officials said during a town hall presentation in December.
