Shipments of transuranic waste to the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico from Idaho National Laboratory could decline in 2024, according to a recent federal safety board update.
The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad receives waste drums from the Idaho National Laboratory’s Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project (AMWTP), as noted in a staff report posted online during the past week by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board.
The lab “will now send WIPP seven shipments per week versus the previously scheduled 12 shipments per week due to 2024 budget changes affecting overtime pay and work schedules at the AMWTP,” according to the board memo dated Oct. 6.
DOE did not immediately respond Monday afternoon to an Exchange Monitor email inquiry on the nature of the budget and workplace changes cited.
The Idaho lab is by far the largest shipper to the underground disposal site, according to WIPP’s public website. During the first nine months of calendar year 2023 there have been 375 shipments sent to WIPP and nearly 300 (298) came from Idaho National Laboratory.
During the recently-completed fiscal 2023, which ended Sept. 30, WIPP received 473 shipments of defense-related transuranic waste and 351 came from Idaho National Laboratory.
In the fall of 2019, DOE started to wind down operation of the AMWTP, which compacted the size of transuranic waste prior to shipment to WIPP. But there are still several years’ worth of treated transuranic waste still awaiting shipment to WIPP. Decontamination and decommissioning of the AMWTP facility is underway, according to the Biden Administration’s fiscal 2024 budget request.
