WIPP resumes waste emplacement
CARLSBAD — For the first time in nearly three years, workers at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant emplaced drums of transuranic waste 2,000 feet underground.
Rick Fuentes, president of the local chapter of the United Steelworkers Union and waste handler at the site, confirmed that two pallets of low-level radioactive waste were emplaced near Room 5 in Panel 7 at 12:45 p.m. Wednesday.
"It went great," Fuentes, who did not assist in the waste emplacement, said. "We're excited to be back to work."
Fuentes said around 20 to 25 people worked to place the waste in the nation's only underground repository, mined from ancient salt beds about 20 miles southwest of Carlsbad.
"It was rad con (radiation control technicians) and waste handlers working all the magic today," Fuentes said.
Waste was already being stored above ground at the site and no shipment of new waste has been received. WIPP serves as an underground repository for nuclear waste, receiving drums of radioactive material from sites around the country.
Authorization to resume operations was given by the Department of Energy on Dec. 23. Employees performed maintenance in areas of Panel 7 in the meantime, including inserting steel bolts into the roof and walls and leveling the floor.
Panel 7 was contaminated after a radiological release in Feb. 2014 caused by improperly packaged waste, so workers in the area must wear protective clothing and respirators, making the process of emplacement more complicated.
Nonetheless, Fuentes said workers seemed confident during the pre-job briefing on Tuesday evening.
"It was never a question of us doing the emplacement. We've been doing it right since '99," Fuentes said. "It was unfortunate that we received some waste that shouldn't have been in those drums."
"You did it!" reads an email sent to employees from Nuclear Waste Partnership president Phil Breidenbach. "It's the day we've all been working for and one we'll remember for a long time!"
Officials had maintained a projected December restart date until the very last day of the year, but always with the caveat that worker safety would trump any deadlines.
Local officials expressed excitement for the long-awaited news.
"There were a lot of 100-hour workweeks that went into getting to this point, and congratulations to all the dedicated men and women with WIPP who made this possible," Carlsbad Mayor Dale Janway said in an emailed statement.
John Heaton, chairman of the Carlsbad Mayor's Nuclear Task Force, praised the work of the state's congressional delegation and the patience and support of the people of Carlsbad.
Heaton and Janway said there is still much work to be done at the site, including building a new ventilation shaft and system and resuming waste shipments to the site.
Sen. Tom Udall said as the facility restarts operations, an effort must be made to avoid mistakes like the ones that caused the closure.
"I urge workers, federal officials and contractors alike to heed the lessons of the past three years, particularly with regard to emergency response and mine safety," Udall said in an emailed statement. "I will continue to fight as a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee to ensure WIPP has the funds and oversight it needs to continue on its path of resuming safe operations."
Sen. Martin Heinrich also stressed safety at the newly reopened site.
"...it remains imperative that the Department of Energy and the WIPP contractor work collaboratively with the Carlsbad community to restore confidence and ensure that WIPP maintains the highest level of safety and the highest level of transparency," Heinrich said in an emailed statement.
The reopening will be celebrated on Monday, according to a Department of Energy spokesman.
U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, members of New Mexico's congressional delegation and other dignitaries are expected to attend Monday's celebration.
The WIPP story
WIPP opened in 1999 to receive waste left over from the country's nuclear defense program.
The transuranic waste received at WIPP consists of drums filled with clothing, tools, soil and other items that have been contaminated with small amounts of radioactive material.
New safety regulations at WIPP
The 2,150-feet deep facility is essentially a mine in a 250 million-year-old salt bed.
The salt, which is continuously closing in on itself, will eventually encase waste emplaced underground. Radiation does not travel far through salt.
The facility operated largely without incident until February 2014, when a salt truck caught fire in the underground and resulted in several workers being treated for smoke inhalation.
Just nine days later, a chemical reaction within a drum received from Los Alamos National Laboratory ruptured, resulting in the release of radiological material in the underground.
The last three years have included a massive overhaul of safety protocols at the site and at sites that generate waste shipped to WIPP.
Prior to the December deadline, officials had predicted reopening in March 2016. Missing the deadline has tacked tens of millions of dollars onto the price tag of the recovery effort, which now hovers around $250 million.
GAO: DOE fails in cost, schedule best practices
Maddy Hayden may be reached at 575-628-5512, mahayden@currentargus.com and @Maddy_J_Hayden on Twitter.