The Department of Energy and its prime contractor for it transuranic waste disposal site near Carlsbad, N.M., will release a report soon to help define what constitutes legacy transuranic waste, site managers said last week at a public meeting.
The legacy waste disposal plan for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) should be out around Nov. 3, Mark Bollinger, manager of DOE’s Carlsbad Field Office, and Ken Harrawood, president and project manager of Bechtel-led Salado Isolation Mining Contractors, said during the Oct. 24 presentation in Las Vegas, N.M.
Release of the plan will be followed by a 60-day public comment period with the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED).
Under its new NMED permit, DOE will reserve Panel 12 will for disposal of legacy transuranic mixed waste to “the extent practicable,” according to the Oct. 24 presentation. WIPP is currently emplacing waste in Panel 8, with the next one being Panel 11 and then Panel 12, the WIPP managers said.
Under its 10-year hazardous waste permit with the state, DOE is expected to give priority to legacy defense-related transuranic waste over waste generated more recently. But the hitch is that DOE’s waste generator sites currently lack a unform criteria for legacy waste, with legacy cutoff dates ranging from 1989 through 2014.
