CARLSBAD, N.M. - The resumption of mining at EM’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) earlier this year was a major milestone for the project and necessary for WIPP to continue operations into the future.
Adding mining to the mix of activities already occurring underground has required a significant amount of coordination.
Nuclear Waste Partnership (NWP), the WIPP management and operations contractor, made work schedule changes to conduct mining and waste emplacement on separate shifts. This ensures sufficient underground airflow for worker safety. Also, most site personnel have moved to a 10-hour schedule of either 4/10s or 7/10s, with additional personnel remaining on 12-hour shifts.
“The schedule change allows us to balance ground control (mine maintenance) and mining with waste emplacement," said Tammy Reynolds, NWP deputy project manager and chief operating officer. “Safety will always be the priority."
Since 2014, WIPP’s underground ventilation system has operated in filtration mode. All exhaust is directed through above-ground high-efficiency particulate air, or HEPA, filter units, resulting in a lower airflow than without filtration. To address this issue in the long term, a new Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System project has been designed that would replace the existing system and provide pathways for both filtered and unfiltered air. Project completion is estimated by 2022.
Since waste emplacement operations resumed last year, WIPP has slowly and safely increased the number of shipments received each week. The site has averaged five to six shipments per week. The week of Feb. 19th was WIPP’s first eight-shipment week.
Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy, Office of Environmental Management
