Despite a recent accumulation of COVID-19 cases among waste isolation pilot plant staff, with the general installation among more than duplicated contractor and subcontractor staff last week, operations continued with shipments of accepted waste and installation at the nuclear waste depot near Carlsbad.
On Monday, WIPP announced 4 new COVID-19 instances among workers at nuclear Waste Partnership, the contractor hired to oversee WIPP’s day-to-day operations.
The news follows four other contractors who tested positive last week, bringing the overall WIPP to 14 positive cases of viruses.
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Before last week, the six positive tests overall, a mix of subcontractors and employees of Nuclear Waste Partnership.
But WIPP spokesman Bobby St. John said the facility began operating in its phase of resumption of WIPP operations, after the facility slowed down the sites this spring when the pandemic began spreading to New Mexico.
“We continue to monitor overall operations on the site and allocate resources as needed. WIPP remains in Phase 2 for the resumption of painting activities”, st. John said. “Shipments are adjusted based on equipment availability and ongoing paint priorities on site.”
On January 24, Transuran nuclear tea shipments (TRU) were accepted through the facility, according to records, on February 10 and March 6, the month in which the pandemic was first reported in New Mexico.
In April seven shipments were accepted and in May they rose to 20 shipments when the state of New Mexico began to apply some restrictions and the amount of virus gave the impression that it was declining.
In June, 19 shipments were accepted and the upload continued in July with 18 shipments accepted to WIPP.
The placement of waste in the followed a similar trend of showing general figures at the beginning of the year, appearing a decline in spring and recovering to general figures in summer.
In January, 283 waste boxes were installed in WIPP and 191 in February.
When the pandemic first hit in March, implementation decreased dramatically, and WIPP installed 63 waste boxes.
But in April, the number increased to 280 boxes underground in the depot.
244 pits were installed in May and 341 in June.
In July, WIPP installed 440 waste boxes for permanent disposal.
St. John stated that the facility was following all protocols through the federal government and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to continue its activities.
He said all cases of WIPP or facility-related viruses had been reported to the New Mexico Department of the Environment, which had not implemented immediate reaction activities until Tuesday, according to NMED records.
“WIPP is following all CDC recommendations for remediation of paint spaces and we continue to maximize paints remotely whenever possible,” st. John said. “As a federal facility, WIPP complies with all federal protection protocols and requirements, adding touch and quarantine search protocols.”
On July 24, WIPP accepted its first Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) since 2012.
WIPP’s Central Characterization Program (CCP) completed the characterization of two shipments that were shipped to the WIPP from SNL in Albuquerque.
Shipments consisted of 4 “HalfPACTs” of TRU waste treated REMOTELY.
Remotely treated waste has a higher point of radiation than the most accepted contact residues.
They have been packaged in sets of shielded containers (ACS) that are used to allow remotely treated waste to be shipped in containers used for contact-treated waste.
ACSs are lead-coated drums and weigh about 1,700 pounds when empty, and some lower-level debris can be treated remotely to touch shipping standards.
Three SCA is shipped in a HalfPACT container, allowing shipments to meet the Department of Transportation’s 80,000-pound limit.
Shipments were made for a total of 10 accepted through SNL WIPP.
“There are a lot of paintings in the scenes to make sure there’s waste to send to WIPP,” said Keith Stone, director of NWP’s national TRU program. “Waste must be characterized and qualified to meet WIPP’s waste acceptance criteria before being approved for shipment.”
Here is a list of general shipments to WIPP from the generator site:
Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, [email protected] or @AdrianHedden on Twitter.