The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., received 32 shipments of transuranic waste during February, according to the facility’s public website.
The latest monthly figure shows progress over the prior year shipment period, but suggests DOE still must increase its rate over a sustained period to reach the annual levels the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) hit prior to a 2014 radiological accident.
The vast majority of the month’s shipments, 23, originated from the Idaho National Laboratory. Five came from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, two came from the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee and two from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.
It generally takes a couple of weeks for shipments to show up on the website. The most recent shipment was recorded at WIPP on Feb. 28, based on a Wednesday afternoon check of the website.
February marks the third-straight month of 30-plus shipments as 31 shipments arrived during January, which followed 53 in December. The 63 shipments received during January and February dwarfs the 18 logged during the first two months of 2022, according to the website.
After a February 2014 underground radiation leak contaminated parts of the salt mine and closed WIPP for about three years, the annual disposal tally has been less than half of pre-accident levels. In the bustling 2013 calendar year, WIPP received 724 shipments.
