The U.S. Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico received 10 shipments of transuranic waste during November, bringing the total to 285 for the first 11 months of 2019.
The figures, from WIPP’s publicly available database, show the underground transuranic waste disposal site has again fallen behind its 2018 pace. It received 291 shipments during the first 11 months of 2018.
While the facility emplaced 19 shipments during November 2018, it received nine fewer this November. There is a gap of roughly two weeks between the actual shipments and when they are posted in the public database, so final 2019 numbers won’t be available until later this month. Officials at WIPP did not immediately comment by press time.
The facility received a total of 311 shipments during 2018.
After a slow start to shipping in 2019, due to an extended maintenance outage and wintry weather, the facility had pulled ahead of the 2018 pace going into November. It received 275 shipments of defense-related transuranic waste during the first 10 months of this year, compared to 272 during the same period in 2018.
During the first 48 weeks of 2019, which roughly translates to Nov. 30, WIPP averaged almost 5.9 shipments per week. The Idaho National Laboratory accounted for 225 of the 285 shipments received through November.
Last year was the second full year of operation for WIPP since it shut down for nearly three years following an underground radiation leak in February 2014.
The disposal site received 318 for the 2019 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30. In a five-year draft WIPP strategic plan, DOE said it anticipates 400 shipments for fiscal 2020. A total of 31 came in during the first two months of the fiscal year.
