Dump uses robots to handle N-waste

CARLSBAD, N.M. – The federal government’s nuclear waste dump in southeastern New Mexico has received its first shipment of waste that’s so radioactive it has to be handled by robotic machines.

The shipment – three 30-gallon drums of debris from nuclear materials testing and research – arrived at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant east of Carlsbad about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday from the Idaho National Laboratory, the U.S. Department of Energy announced.

Remote-handled waste has always been part of WIPP’s plan, with shipments scheduled to start after the plant had demonstrated it could handle less-radioactive material safely. WIPP opened in March 1999.

Both types of waste shipments consist of tools, rags, protective clothing, sludge, soil and other materials contaminated with plutonium and other radioactive elements.

“This important shipment was completed safely and uneventfully,” said David Moody, manager of the DOE’s Carlsbad field office.

“This is truly a momentous occasion, the culmination of months and years of planning, negotiations with stakeholders, training, operational safety reviews, equipment checks and checking and double-checking everything,” he said.

The DOE expects to start with one remote-handled shipment a month, then gradually move up to the maximum of six a week by September, Moody said.

About 4 percent of WIPP’s total capacity is expected to be remote-handled waste.

The first shipment left Idaho last Thursday but was delayed getting to WIPP because of concern over bad weather. It was parked at an Air Force base in Colorado until a severe winter weather warning was lifted, Moody said.

The Energy Department does not publicize waste shipments in advance, but the agency does notify the state police.

Last week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency removed one of the final roadblocks to the new shipments by approving preparations at the Idaho lab.

In October, state Environment Secretary Ron Curry and Gov. Bill Richardson approved the U.S. Department of Energy’s application for a permit modification to enable the DOE to ship the remote-handled nuclear waste, or so-called “hot waste.”

Since WIPP opened, it has stored more than 83,000 drums of radioactive waste in salt beds 2,150 feet under the New Mexico desert. That waste, called contact-handled waste, has a lower level of radioactivity.

The first shipment of remote-handled waste is particularly significant, James Rispoli, DOE assistant secretary for environmental management, said in a prepared statement.

“WIPP is now positioned to complete its entire mission. The safe, efficient disposal of all transuranic waste, including remote-handled material, is vital to our national cleanup strategy,” Rispoli said.

When remote-handled waste arrives at WIPP, the canister is removed from the shipping container by a robotic device operating behind a heavy shielded door. The waste is then sent underground.

Remote-handled waste will be put into boreholes drilled into the walls of WIPPs underground disposal rooms and closed off by shielded material. Contact-handled waste barrels and boxes then will be stacked in rows on the floor of the same rooms.

“We’ll take readings. If required, more shielding is added,” Moody said.