Weapons Complex Monitor Vol. 34 No. 35
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Weapons Complex Monitor
Article 9 of 11
September 15, 2023

WIPP returns TRU waste shipment back to Savannah River

By ExchangeMonitor

A Department of Energy spokesperson confirmed Monday the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico sent a problematic shipment of transuranic waste back to the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.

The shipment, which sat for nearly a year in a Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) parking lot and required special permission by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for its return trip, departed WIPP on Aug. 23 and safely arrived at the Savannah River Site on Aug. 24, said a DOE spokesperson at the underground disposal site near Carlsbad, N.M.

Shortly after arriving at the salt mine complex for defense-related transuranic waste in August 2022, workers at WIPP found the HalfPACT package was potentially contaminated with airborne plutonium-238 and americium-241, according to DOE.

But the waste box was caught in a regulatory limbo. By the time the potential contamination was discovered at WIPP, the container’s five-year maintenance certification had expired. The sites have compared it to an automobile having its state inspection sticker expire. As a result, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission had to specially approve sending the container back to the DOE facility in South Carolina for a fix.

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NEW: Via public records request, I’ve been able to confirm reporting today that a warrant has been issued for DOE deputy asst. secretary of spent fuel and waste disposition Sam Brinton for another luggage theft, this time at Las Vegas’s Harry Reid airport. (cc: @EMPublications)

DOE spent fuel lead Brinton accused of second luggage theft.



by @BenjaminSWeiss, confirming today's reports with warrant from Las Vegas Metro PD.

Waste has been Emplaced! 🚮

We have finally begun emplacing defense-related transuranic (TRU) waste in Panel 8 of #WIPP.

Read more about the waste emplacement here: https://wipp.energy.gov/wipp_news_20221123-2.asp

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