During fiscal 2023, the Department of Energy expects to make 15 shipments of transuranic defense waste from down-blended plutonium stocks to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, a contractor executive said last week.

Look for the level of such transuranic waste shipments, from the Surplus Plutonium Disposition Program at Savannah River, to reach 35 annually in fiscal 2024 and 45 in fiscal 2029, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions CEO Stuart MacVean said in a presentation April 12.

The shipment level from this program could reach 80 in fiscal 2031 and ultimately 160 annually in 2033, MacVean said in the presentation to the South Carolina Nuclear Advisory Council.

The first shipment went to WIPP for burial on Dec. 15, and three more shipments were completed earlier this month, MacVean said.

As part of the program, Fluor-led Savannah River Nuclear Solutions will be installing three new glove boxes, the first of which should arrive at the South Carolina site by Oct. 1, and making other improvements to the K-Area, MacVean said.

After plutonium is down blended at SRS, it becomes transuranic waste by definition and can be permanently disposed of at WIPP, according to NNSA and DOE’s Office of Environmental Management. Until those three new glove boxes are installed, NNSA is using an existing Office of Environmental Management K-Area glovebox at Savannah River.