The long-planned new air-intake shaft at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico has been excavated to its final depth of 2,275 feet, the agency said Tuesday.
Completion of the 26-feet-wide shaft is a 2023 priority for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) 26 miles east of Carlsbad, the agency said in a press release.
The subcontractor doing the work, a joint venture of Harrison Western and Shaft Sinkers, which inked a $75-million contract in 2019, has been working around the clock to finish the project, DOE said. Work on the project started in April 2020 under a temporary work authorization from New Mexico. Work on the shaft was held up temporarily by the state citing high local COVID-19 rates.
The Joe Biden administration requested $50 million for the shaft project in fiscal 2024, up from $46 million in fiscal 2023. Nearly $166 million has been spent in prior years, according to budget justification documents.
In addition to providing an additional access point to WIPP’s existing underground workings, the new shaft supports the Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System, DOE said in the release. The new ventilation system, which crews could start commissioning within months, will increase underground airflow to 540,000 cubic feet per minute, more than triple the current rate.
Drilling reached the level of WIPP waste disposal rooms in early July and horizontal tunnels were dug on either side of the shaft. These will be further mined to connect to the existing WIPP underground works and connect passageways for new waste disposal panels, DOE said.
