The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., received 25 shipments of transuranic waste during October, which is marginally better than the 21 shipments during the same month in 2019.
That is according to DOE’s public database for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), which also shows shipments for this pandemic-hobbled year still lag far behind the pace for 2019.
During the first 10 months of 2019, WIPP received 275 shipments. But during the same period in 2020, the underground disposal site only received 167 shipments. That translates to a shipment reduction of almost 40%.
During October WIPP received 11 shipments from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, which recently shipped to Carlsbad for the first time in 15 years. The facility also received nine from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, three from the Idaho National Laboratory, and two from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.
Since March, on-site staffing limits designed to slow the spread of COVID-19 at WIPP and the DOE sites shipping transuranic waste there have generally kept shipments to no more than five a week, which is about half what it might otherwise take in during a good week since reopening in 2017, according to the agency. The facility, managed by the Amentum-led Nuclear Waste Partnership, suffered an underground radiation leak in February 2014 that effectively took it out of service for about three years.
WIPP is not expected to achieve its pre-2014 throughput levels until construction of a new underground ventilation system is completed. In late August the WIPP prime terminated the contractor it hired to build the ventilation system. The fired construction firm subsequently sued Nuclear Waste Partnership.
Big Crowd Turns Out to Learn About Carlsbad Tech Contract
An online briefing on a potential $100-million technical services contract at the DOEs Carlsbad Field Office drew about 60 people last week as prospective bidders prepare for the Dec. 14 application deadline.
Incumbent North Wind Portage which has a $44-million contract that began in November 2015 and could run until June 2021 if all extensions are granted, was among those participating in the Tuesday Webex session. Some of the others included Akima, Banda Group, Boston Government Services, Cybermedia Technologies, Edgewater Technical Associates, Navarro, Pro2Serve, Project Enhancement Corporation, Spectra Tech, Strategic Management Solutions, and Veolia, according to the registration list.
Questions on the small business set-aside contract were due Nov. 13 and the DOE typically publishes answers to solicitation questions within a week to 10 days. No Q&A was posted as of deadline Friday.
The lead partner on the contract must not have more than 750 employees, according to the small business criteria for the solicitation.
The winning bidder will provide audits and technical assistance to the Carlsbad office as it oversees shipments from DOE-approved generators of defense-related transuranic waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico.
Generally speaking, transuranic waste includes the remains of tools, clothing, rags, and other debris left over from nuclear weapons work involving elements heavier than uranium.
Since it started operations in 1999, WIPP has received about 12,800 shipments of such waste, according to a slide presentation from the conference.
