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.
