Another Department of Energy facility is preparing to resume shipping its transuranic waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico.
Shipments of contact-handled waste from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California should begin in 2019, lab spokesman Nolan O’Brien said Tuesday by email. The resumption is based on availability of funding
When asked about the resumption of shipments, O’Brien said it’s due to funding being available for certification to ship the waste to WIPP. The spokesman did not elaborate.
Livermore last shipped waste to WIPP in 2010, O’Brien said. The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory was born in the early 1950s during the Cold War to advance research and development of nuclear weapons. It continues to work on the nation’s stockpile stewardship.
The New Mexico disposal site was closed for nearly three years following a February 2014 underground radiation release. Energy Department criteria for accepting waste shipments at WIPP have been modified to reduce the chances of recurrence of the February 2014 incident. The characterization program is designed to ensure TRU waste is safely packaged and ready for disposal before it arrives at WIPP.
Since resuming emplacement of waste from other DOE sites in April 2017, WIPP has accepted shipments from the Idaho National Laboratory, Waste Control Specialists in Texas, Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Other facilities, such as the Hanford Site in Washington state, are still waiting for their turn.
The Energy Department confirmed recently it would receive the more radioactive remote-handled waste from the Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois by the end of the year. Argonne has not shipped waste to WIPP since 2013.
