Southeast New Mexico College in Carlsbad is receiving $11.7 million in Department of Energy grant money over five years to develop employee training programs for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the agency said Monday.
The college will collaborate with DOE and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), to provide training and education for current and future employees at the deep underground disposal facility for defense-related transuranic waste, DOE said in a press release.
The effort should blunt worker shortages and create a pipeline of qualified WIPP workers for the future, DOE said in the release.
“The communities of Southeast New Mexico have long been the backbone of the WIPP workforce and their contributions to the success of the WIPP mission cannot be understated,” Mark Bollinger, manager of DOE’s Carlsbad Field Office that oversees the disposal facility.
The DOE cooperative agreement with the college runs from Aug. 15, 2023, through Aug. 14, 2028. Southeast New Mexico College opened in 1950 as the state’s first community college and was named the Carlsbad Instructional Center, according to the school’s website.
