The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant may not have enough capacity to receive the Department of Energy’s remaining remote-handled transuranic waste inventory, according to a Office of Inspector General report released Friday. The report reviewed the Office of Environmental Management’s program to disposition transuranic waste and also noted that DOE is not on track to meet its goal of disposing of 90 percent of its legacy transuranic waste by the end of Fiscal Year 2015. “EM is at risk of not having sufficient RH TRU waste disposal capacity at the WIPP under existing disposal practices. While EM’s planned actions may improve RH capacity utilization, until these actions are fully implemented WIPP’s ability to accommodate all of EM’s RH waste is uncertain,” the report states. “In addition, by not achieving disposition of 90 percent of legacy TRU waste by the end of FY 2015, the risk reduction originally envisioned when the goal was established may not occur. This change may lead to increased costs and a decrease in public confidence and credibility with states.”
The IG found that EM has about 3,538 cubic meters of remote-handled waste remaining, with the potential for an additional 1,500 cubic meters of remote handled waste in the future, while WIPP has only 2,912 cubic meters of capacity for additional remote-handled waste. The report notes that DOE is looking at two options to increase RH waste capacity. “In August 2011, EM submitted a request to the Environmental Protection Agency to relocate two of WIPP’s planned disposal panels from the main access tunnels to the area south of the other disposal panels, which could allow emplacement of additional RH waste. Second, in November 2012, New Mexico granted a Permit modification to allow disposal of RH waste in shielded containers,” the report states.
