DOE Appoints Senderling, Teynor
to Head Federal Recovery Team
Kenneth Fletcher
WC Monitor
4/18/2014
While this week marked two months since the Feb. 14 radiation release at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, teams entering the mine still have not identified the source of the incident. In the past week, the two recovery teams entered the WIPP underground for a third and fourth time. While the teams made it closer to the suspected release site at waste panel seven, they were not able to enter the panel or identify the source of the release. “Workers continued checking for contamination, determining air quality and assessing the stability of the WIPP underground facility as they made their way farther into the mine than previous trips,” states an April 16 Department of Energy release.
Also this week, the Department announced that it has formed its WIPP federal recovery team, naming DOE officials Mark Senderling and Tom Teynor to head the group. The team was formed to respond to both the release and the Feb. 5 salt truck fire. “The Department has finalized its federal recovery team, a pivotal step to help WIPP complete the tasks necessary to restart transuranic waste disposal operations. The team’s mission involves coordinating and guiding the rigorous efforts required to implement changes and resume operations at the site as safely and as soon as possible,” DOE cleanup chief Dave Huizenga said in a message to employees.
Office of Environmental Management veteran Senderling is serving as the Environmental Management headquarters manager for WIPP recovery activities, acting as a liaison with contractor and federal officials at DOE’s Carlsbad Field Office. Teynor, who recently served as a federal project director at the Richland Operations Office, will be the senior federal recovery manager at CBFO, reporting directly to the CBFO manager.
Underground Push Comes After Several Bases of Operations Set Up
The move farther into the underground this week came after earlier this month workers set up two bases of operations underground in areas free of contamination. The limiting factor for reaching the contamination source has been the amount of time workers can spend in protective suits before they overheat, according to site officials. Workers will need to be able to suit up at the nearest clean base and walk to the contaminated waste panel within about 45 minutes or risk health issues from the heat buildup. Site officials have not provided a timeline on when identification of the contamination may time place. “Safety is always going to drive this schedule. We don’t want to set up false expectations,” Donavan Mager, a spokesman for WIPP contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership, said last week.
Air Sampling Results Return to Near Background Levels
Meanwhile, results from aboveground air sampling stations in and around the WIPP property have returned to near background levels, according to data released late last week by the independent Carlsbad Environmental Monitoring and Research Center. Samples analyzed from March 11 and March 21 “indicate that the trace amounts of radioactive particles that were ultimately released from the WIPP exhaust shaft following the event appear to have dispersed into the atmosphere and are detectable only in minute concentrations,” according to a CMERC release. “While the results for Americium (241Am) continue to be slightly elevated above previous background levels, the levels of Plutonium (239+240Pu and 238Pu) currently being measured are at or below historic background levels.”
NWP Releases Fire Corrective Action Plan
Meanwhile, Nuclear Waste Partnership this week submitted its corrective action plan to the Department in response to the underground salt truck fire. An DOE accident investigation board report completed last month found that the fire was “preventable” and detailed numerous issues, including a lack of proper maintenance and an inadequate response, that contributed to the fire. The report listed numerous recommendations for improvements, which NWP said were incorporated into its corrective action plant. NWP declined to release the plan until it receives DOE approval.
