Privatization of contact-handled transuranic waste transportation services
- Dept. of Energy, Carlsbad, NM (United States)
- NFT Inc., Golden, CO (United States)
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) currently stores and generates contact-handled (CH) transuranic (TRU) waste at 10 major and 13 smaller sites across the United States. The opening of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in May 1998 will begin the use of a radioactive waste transportation system to transport TRU waste from these sites to the WIPP for disposal. The DOE will transport CH-TRU waste in a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)-certified type B package called the TRUPACT-II. The Carlsbad Area Office (CAO) has determined that the CH-TRU waste transportation system is sufficiently well defined to allow privatization, resulting in significant cost savings. The CAO manages the National Transuranic Program and has developed the National Transuranic (TRU) Waste Management Plan for integrating TRU waste management activities throughout the DOE complex. The management plan outlines an aggressive schedule for transporting and disposing of TRU waste at the WIPP. The WIPP is scheduled to begin receiving CH-TRU waste in May 1998, at which time five truck sets (a truck set consists of tractor, trailer, and three TRUPACT-IIs) will be in service. Starting in 1998, truck sets will be added until the fleet size reaches 20 in 2000. The WIPP CH-TRU waste-handling capacity will start at a rate of 250 shipments per year in 1998 and will increase to 850 shipments per year by the year 2000.
- OSTI ID:
- 552395
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-971125-; ISSN 0003-018X; TRN: 98:001606
- Journal Information:
- Transactions of the American Nuclear Society, Vol. 77; Conference: 1997 American Nuclear Society (ANS) winter meeting, Albuquerque, NM (United States), 16-20 Nov 1997; Other Information: PBD: 1997
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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