nuclear-news

USA: Transportation of nuclear wastes

 State oversight activities at a nuclear waste repository near Carlsbad
received about $12 million in federal funds provided to two agencies by the
U.S. Department of Energy. The money will pay for the State of New
Mexico’s work to ensure safe operations at the Waste Isolation Pilot
Plant, a repository about 26 miles east of Carlsbad where nuclear waste is
permanently disposed of via burial in a salt deposit 2,000 feet
underground.

Transuranic (TRU) waste, made up of clothing materials and
equipment irradiated during nuclear activities, is trucked to WIPP from
sites across the U.S. To assist with transportation of waste to WIPP, the
State’s Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department (ENMNRD) was
granted about $6.2 million by the DOE through its New Mexico Waste
Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Transportation Safety Program.

Since the facility began accepting waste in 1999, WIPP drivers covered about 15.7
million loaded miles as of July 2, per the latest records. Shipments from
Idaho National Laboratory traveled the furthest at about 9.3 million miles,
while that facility also sent the most shipments at 6,683. Idaho was
followed by the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, which had about 2.5
million miles traveled for its 1,683 shipments – the third-most among
WIPP’s 13 generator sites. Los Alamos National Laboratory in northern New
Mexico sent the fourth-most shipments at 1,525, but drivers from that site
only covered 521,550 miles, records show. The now-closed Rocky Flats
Environment Technology Site near Denver had the third-most distance
traveled at about 1.4 miles, and the second-most shipments at 2,045.

 Carlsbad Current Argus 8th July 2022

https://eu.currentargus.com/story/news/2022/07/08/nuclear-waste-oversight-in-new-mexico-gets-12m-from-feds/65366239007/

July 11, 2022 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes