A hearings officer for the New Mexico Environment Department has recommended the state approve a request by the Department of Energy to change the way underground waste is counted at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP).
The recommendation, issued this week, must now be considered by NMED Secretary Butch Tongate, DOE Carlsbad Field Office Manager Todd Shrader said Thursday evening. Tongate could adopt, alter, or set aside the recommendation.
The state comment period on the hazardous waste permit revision for WIPP ends Dec. 18, Shrader said during the quarterly WIPP Town Hall meeting. A decision from Tongate could come in January.
The Energy Department and its WIPP contractor, Nuclear Waste Partnership, have asked that gaps between drums of defense transuranic material inside disposal canisters no longer be reported as waste under the 1992 WIPP Land Withdrawal Act.
Counting the empty spaces against the disposal volume limit of 6.2 million cubic feet, or 176,000 cubic meters, could lead to premature closure of the TRU waste facility, according to DOE. The Energy Department has said this altered method, applied retroactively, would cut the current waste volume counted against the cap by about 28 percent.
The proposed revision has been formally protested by three advocacy groups: the Southwest Research and Information Center, Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, and Nuclear Watch New Mexico.
Also during the event, NWP President and Project Manager Bruce Covert said the company continues to seek ways to improve ventilation underground and reduce the chances of workers getting sick from diesel fumes.
“When you run diesel, you end up getting exhaust,” Covert said, adding the company is installing equipment designed to minimize the impact of fumes which can sometimes irritate the respiratory system.
Waste emplacement was suspended for the last two weeks of October at WIPP after two workers became sick. Poor underground air quality was identified as a key factor in the incident.
Covert noted NWP signed a $135 million contract last month with Critical Applications Alliance for a new permanent underground ventilation system. The new system, due to go online around September 2021, should increase airflow underground from the current level of 170,000 cubic feet per minute to 540,000 cubic feet per minute.
On the personnel front, Shrader announced a new deputy manager, Kirk Lachman, had joined the DOE Carlsbad Field Office. Lachman came to Carlsbad last month from DOE cleanup office headquarters in Washington, D.C., where he was the deputy chief for field operations for almost two years. Prior to that he spent almost two years as a program manager for DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration, according to his LinkedIn profile.
In all, Lachman has more than 25 years of experience in various Energy Department positions. The DOE veteran replaces Jeff Carswell, whose LinkedIn profile indicates he left WIPP in September to become chief operations officer at Fluor Idaho, cleanup contractor at the Idaho National Laboratory.
WIPP Contractor Hires Familiar Face as New COO
On Dec. 5, Nuclear Waste Partnership announced the hiring of Gene Balsmeier as its new chief operating officer and deputy project manager at WIPP.
Balsmeier, who has held management posts at a number of sites in the DOE complex, replaces Tammy Reynolds, Covert said in the company press release. Reynolds left on Nov. 4 to pursue another post within AECOM, which leads Nuclear Waste Partnership. The other members of the joint venture are BWX Technologies and Orano, formerly AREVA Federal Services.
Balsmeier took the reins Nov. 5. He takes charge of day-to-day activities at the disposal site for defense-related transuranic waste. This includes responsibility for receiving and emplacing waste shipments, managing storage areas, and ensuring compliance with government permits.
The new COO is no stranger to WIPP, having served as its manager from 2016-2017, helping get the facility back into operation following an underground radiation release in February 2014. The NWP news release said Balsmeier spent 27 years in the U.S. Navy nuclear program, as well as 20 years working in management jobs at DOE facilities, most recently as project assurance director with Fluor Idaho at the Idaho National Laboratory.
Reynolds has had a 32-year career with AECOM and URS Corp., now an AECOM subsidiary, according to her LinkedIn profile. She joined WIPP in October 2011, after helping lead high-level waste management projects at the Hanford Site in Washington state, the Idaho National Laboratory, and the Savannah River Site, according to a biography on the WIPP website.
