Background monitoring of air toxics at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
- Westinghouse Electric Corp., Carlsbad, NM (United States). Waste Isolation Div.
- Harding Lawson Associates, Denver, CO (United States)
The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), located southeast of Carlsbad, New Mexico, has been constructed as a permanent repository for containerized solid or solidified transuranic (TRU) mixed waste. The repository is constructed in a massive salt bed formation, 2,150 feet below the surface. The WIPP has been granted a No-Migration Variance by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) according to the requirements of 40 CFR 268.6. As part of the variance, a detailed air monitoring program has been developed for the facility. The purpose of the program is to detect airborne releases of hazardous constituents at the earliest practicable time. Routine background monitoring for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) has been performed at WIPP for the last two years. The monitoring program routinely quantifies airborne concentrations of five VOCs in the ventilation airstream of the underground facility, using Compendium Method TO-14. This paper describes the monitoring program in-place at the facility and presents a summary of the monitoring results for the last two years.
- OSTI ID:
- 197454
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9405167--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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