The Department of Energy yesterday announced it has approved a plan for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant workforce and will also be holding weekly town hall meetings on WIPP every Thursday. Site contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership submitted the workforce plan yesterday, and it calls for utilizing its employees both for identifying the cause of last month’s radiation release and implementing corrective actions as a result of the event. DOE notes that "considerable retraining" will be needed to adapt to the new conditions. “The Department understands the value of utilizing the experience and expertise of the NWP workforce in all aspects for recovering from the recent fire and radiation release incidents,” Joe Franco, manager of DOE’s Carlsbad Field Office, said in a statement.
Also, following calls last week for more information on developments at WIPP, DOE and the City of Carlsbad announced yesterday that they will be hosting weekly meetings on WIPP. The next meeting is scheduled at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Carlsbad’s City Hall. Following the fire and radiation release at the repository in February, local and state officials last week expressed concern about communications regarding the event at a DOE-led town hall meeting.
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
Editorial: Sam Brinton’s credibility is now an issue 🔓