The first shipment in nearly 18 months of WIPP-bound waste left Los Alamos Wednesday.
The Laboratory's shipments to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) resumed Wednesday when a truck carrying TRUPACT containers left Los Alamos for the Carlsbad disposal site.
"Getting this program back underway has been a major priority," said Ken Hargis, Environmental Management Program director in the Environmental Stewardship (ENV) Division. "Our efforts have benefited enormously from the cooperation between the Laboratory, the Los Alamos Site Office and the Carlsbad Field Office. WIPP is the safest place for this waste."
Los Alamos' TRU program has undergone major shifts in both philosophy and approach to accelerating the cleanup of the TRU wastes at the Lab. TRU waste includes isotopes of uranium and of man-made elements such as plutonium and americium.
A collaborative effort between LASO and the Carlsbad Field Office staff has resulted in more efficient and streamlined operations, according to Hargis. "This momentum will be critical to our future success and further acceleration of legacy cleanup at [the Lab]," Hargis said.
The last Los Alamos shipment to WIPP occurred in September 2003.
Shipments are scheduled to continue weekly, one truckload a week at first, increasing to two truckloads a week through the summer, and reaching four or more weekly by the end of 2005. The program has a goal of eliminating all stored legacy TRU waste- about 50,000 drums-moved from the current location at Los Alamos's Technical Area 54 to WIPP by the end of 2012.
About 2,000 drums of the Lab's TRU waste are designated as part of a program called "Quick to WIPP." Quick to WIPP was established to give the highest transport priority to waste that has the highest activity and the highest risk of dispersion if there were an accident or disaster. The waste could include such items as contaminated rags, used protective clothing, tools, chunks of concrete and pieces of metal. All Quick to WIPP drums are scheduled to be moved to Carlsbad by summer 2006, according to Davis Christensen, deputy project director of the TRU Certification Program (NWIS-TP).
Reducing the number of waste drums is one of the special precautions the Laboratory is taking with Quick to WIPP shipments, Christensen said. The drums have a four to five step process to characterize and certify that the waste meets all requirements for a WIPP shipment before it is loaded in the TRUPACT container. The TRUPACT containers are securely bolted to the flatbed trailer used to transport them.
Since shipments stopped in 2003, Los Alamos has been working with the Central Certification Project (CCP)-run by Washington TRU Solutions-to get them started again.
CCP has taken over many of the processes of identifying the contents of the drums and certifying them for shipment. CCP currently provides similar support for other DOE sites.
To view a Quicktime video of the shipment, click here.
