Idaho on pace to ship legacy waste to WIPP by 2032

February 22, 2024
By Wayne Barber

While the Department of Energy is satisfying a New Mexico push to move more transuranic waste from Los Alamos National Laboratory to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., the Idaho National Laboratory remains the underground mine’s top shipper, a DOE panel heard Thursday.

Although a 2019 update to a legal settlement between the state of Idaho and the feds stipulated that Idaho National Lab should account for at least 55% of defense-related transuranic waste sent to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) annually, the rate currently exceeds 70%, an DOE Idaho cleanup boss said Thursday.

As a result, Idaho National Lab is on pace to ship all of its legacy transuranic waste to WIPP by 2032, Doug Pruit, the federal agency’s assistant manager for environment and waste programs, said in a presentation Thursday to the Idaho cleanup Citizens Advisory Board. This includes the more radioactive remote-handled waste. 

The 2019 update to a settlement between Boise, DOE and the U.S. Navy said the Idaho lab would account for at least 55% of the traffic to WIPP, based on a three-year average.

Of the 489 shipments sent to WIPP during the 2023 calendar year, 386 came from Idaho, according to the public website for the underground salt mine. That would translate to about 79% during 2023.

During fiscal 2024, which ends Oct. 1, WIPP is targeting 155 shipments from Los Alamos, which would be a big jump from the 68 in fiscal 2023, DOE Carlsbad Field Office manager Mark Bollinger said in a recent presentation.

WIPP’s new 10-year state permit renewal from New Mexico stipulated DOE would start making in-state shipments from Los Alamos more of a priority at the disposal facility.

During Thursday’s meeting, an Idaho Citizens Advisory Board member asked Connie Flohr, the head of DOE’s Idaho nuclear cleanup office, if the Idaho National Laboratory would take a backseat with the increased emphasis on Los Alamos.

“That was one of the things I asked too,” Flohr said. “I was a little nervous too that we might take it on the chin.” But that has not happened, Flohr said.

It is easier for WIPP shipments to “surge” now that disposal has been occurring in Panel 8 for more than a year now, said Justin Marble, a waste and materials management executive for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management. The prior disposal area, Panel 7, was left “dirty” by a February 2014 underground radiation leak and required workers to don a lot of personal protective equipment, Marble said.

WIPP is offline this month for maintenance and as a result, Idaho is doing some of its own transuranic waste-related maintenance this month, Idaho DOE managers said during the meeting.