skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Status of the WIPP Project

Conference ·
OSTI ID:5247518

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), located in southeastern New Mexico, has been constructed to be a repository for transuranic (TRU) radioactive wastes generated from the US defense activities. In order to use WIPP as a repository for permanent disposal of TRU waste, the US Department of Energy (DOE) has to demonstrate compliance with the Standards for the Management and Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel, High Level and Transuranic Radioactive Wastes'' promulgated by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the US Code of Federal Regulations 40 CFR Part 191. The DOE initially plans to perform experiments with a small quantity of waste at WIPP and would like to bring additional quantities for operational demonstration'', before determining whether WIPP is to be a repository for permanent disposal. There are serious problems in pursuing this course of action from an operational point of view. It would be wiser to take the actions necessary to decide whether the facility should be used as a permanent repository, before emplacing a substantial quantity of waste in it. This report evaluates the status of the WIPP Project as of February 1991. 22 refs.

Research Organization:
Environmental Evaluation Group, Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-89AL58309
OSTI ID:
5247518
Report Number(s):
CONF-910270-64; ON: DE91018839
Resource Relation:
Conference: Waste management '91, Tucson, AZ (United States), 24-28 Feb 1991
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English