The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: A Global Opportunity for Partnerships With a Purpose

2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inés R. Triay ◽  
Mark L. Matthews ◽  
Leif G. Eriksson ◽  
Frank D. Hansen
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Pilot Plant ◽  
The United States ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
International Programs ◽  
Strategic Partnerships ◽  
Waste Isolation Pilot Plant ◽  
Deep Geological Disposal ◽  
Scientific Technical ◽  
Underground Research Laboratory

Abstract On March 26, 1999, the United States (U.S.) Department of Energy (DOE) Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO) opened the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico, United States of America (USA), for safe deep geological disposal of up to 175,584 cubic meters (m3) of long-lived radioactive wastes/materials (LLRMs). Twenty-four years of intensive, iterative interactions with scientific, environmental, public, institutional, political, and regulatory interest groups resolved all regulatory and legal challenges involved in bringing a deep geological repository for LLRMs to adequate scientific, technical, institutional, political, and public acceptance and fruition. International strategic partnerships and research and development (R&D) collaborations are cornerstones in both past and current strategies designed to timely, cost-effectively, and safely accomplish the CBFO mission. The primary objectives of the CBFO’s international programs are to: 1. Acquire information supporting the CBFO mission. 2. Present and share CBFO mission information, expertise, and facilities of potential interest and/or value to other radioactive waste management and disposal programs, including using the WIPP underground research laboratory (URL) for joint R&D and training.

Materials Interface Interactions Test (MIIT); in-Situ Testing of Simulated Hlw Forms in Salt- Performance of Srs Simulated Waste Glass After up to 5 Years of Burial at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP)

1991 ◽  
Vol 257 ◽  
Author(s):  
G.G. Wicks ◽  
A.R. Lodding ◽  
P.B. Macedo ◽  
D.E. Clark
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Pilot Plant ◽  
Field Tests ◽  
Field Testing ◽  
The United States ◽  
Waste Glass ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
High Level Waste ◽  
Waste Isolation Pilot Plant ◽  
High Level

ABSTRACTThe first field tests conducted in the United States involving burial of simulated high-level waste [HLW] forms and package components, were started in July of 1986. The program, called the Materials Interface Interactions Test or MIIT, is the largest cooperative field-testing venture in the international waste management community. Included in the study are over 900 waste form samples comprising 15 different systems supplied by 7 countries. Also included are approximately 300 potential canister or overpack metal samples along with more than 500 geologic and backfill specimens. There are almost 2000 relevant interactions that characterize this effort which is being conducted in the bedded salt site at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), near Carlsbad, New Mexico. The MIIT program represents a joint endeavor managed by Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M., and Savannah River Laboratory in Aiken, S.C. and sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. Also involved in MIIT are participants from various laboratories and universities in France, Germany, Belgium, Canada, Japan, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In July of 1991, the experimental portion of the 5-yr. MIIT program was completed. Although only about 5% of all MIIT samples have been assessed thus far, there are already interesting findings that have emerged. The present paper will discuss results obtained for SRS 165/TDS waste glass after burial of 6 mo., 1 yr. and 2 yrs., along with initial analyses of 5 yr. samples.

The Role of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in the Cleanup of the U.S. Nuclear Weapons Complex

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynne K. Smith ◽  
Mary L. Bisesi
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Nuclear Weapons ◽  
Pilot Plant ◽  
The United States ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
United States Department ◽  
National Academy Of Sciences ◽  
Waste Isolation Pilot Plant ◽  
Term Operation ◽  
Transuranic Waste

As a result of nuclear weapons production, the United States of America produced significant quantities of transuranic waste, which consists of clothing, tools, rags, residues, debris and other items contaminated with small amounts of radioactive man-made elements — mostly plutonium — with an atomic number greater than that of uranium. Transuranic waste began accumulating in the 1940s and continued through the Cold War era. Today, most transuranic waste is stored at weapons production sites across the United States. In 1957, the National Academy of Sciences concluded that the most promising disposal option for radioactive wastes was disposal in deep geologic repositories situated in the salt formations. After nearly a decade of study, the United States Department of Energy decided in January 1981 to proceed with construction of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) at a site 41.6 km (26 miles) southest of Carlsbad, New Mexico. After years of study, construction, and permitting, the WIPP facility became operational in early 1999. As the United States continues to clean up and close its former nuclear weapon facilities, the operation of WIPP will continue into the next several decades. This paper will provide on overview of the history, regulatory, and public process to permit a radioactive repository for disposal of transuranic wastes and the process to ensure its long-term operation in a safe and environmentally compliant manner.

Lessons Learned at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: Share, Listen, and Learn to Earn Stakeholder Acceptance

2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leif G. Eriksson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Pilot Plant ◽  
Role Model ◽  
The United States ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Host Community ◽  
Deep Geological Repository ◽  
Waste Isolation Pilot Plant ◽  
Geological Repository

Abstract On March 26, 1999, the United States (U.S.) Department of Energy (DOE) opened the nation’s first deep geological disposal system (repository) for long-lived radioactive wastes/materials (LLRMs) at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) site, New Mexico, United States of America (USA). The opening of WIPP embodies gradually achieved acceptance, both local and global, on scientific, institutional, regulatory, political, and public levels. In the opinion of the author, five significant determinants for the successful siting, certification, and acceptance of WIPP, were the existence of: • A willing and supportive host community; • A strong, independent regulator; • A regulatory framework widely perceived to (over)protect public health and the environment; • A structurally simple, old, stable, host-rock with excellent radionuclide containment and isolation characteristics; and • An open siting, site characterization, repository development, certification and recertification process with regularly scheduled opportunities for information exchanges with affected and interested parties, including a) prompt responses to non-DOE concerns and b) transparency/traceability of external-input into, and the logic behind, the DOE’s decision-making process. The nation’s and the world’s next deep geological repository for LLRMs is currently scheduled to open in 2010. As follows, in addition to providing a national solution to safe disposal of LLRMs, the opening and continued safe operation of WIPP provides an international role model that effectively dispels the global myth that LLRMs cannot be safely disposed in a deep geological repository.

Independent Technical Oversight of WIPP: An Operating Repository

2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
James K. Channell ◽  
Matthew K. Silva
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Pilot Plant ◽  
The United States ◽  
Waste Isolation Pilot Plant ◽  
Environmental Evaluation ◽  
Geological Repository ◽  
Evaluation Group ◽  
Transuranic Wastes

Abstract The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), a geological repository for the disposal of transuranic wastes from the United States defense programs, began disposing of waste in March 1999. The experience of the Environmental Evaluation Group (EEG) indicates that a technical oversight group that focuses on objective technical evaluations can add credibility to a nuclear repository project. The group can also have an effect on a variety of design, regulatory, and operational details of the project.

The War Over Kds at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant

1997 ◽  
Vol 506 ◽  
Author(s):  
William W.-L. Lee
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Pilot Plant ◽  
The United States ◽  
Distribution Coefficients ◽  
Performance Assessments ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Geologic Repository ◽  
Waste Isolation Pilot Plant ◽  
History Of ◽  
Compliance Certification

This paper traces the history of distribution coefficients used to calculate radionuclide transport in performance assessments for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), to obtain technical lessons for performance assessment in general. The WIPP is a geologic repository for transuranic waste. The U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) has filed a compliance certification application1with the Environmental Protection Agency. If the application is approved, the USDOE plans to operate the WIPP starting in November 1997, making the WIPP the first operational repository in the United States.

National Science Foundation

1978 ◽  
Vol 8 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 110-110
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
National Science Foundation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
International Programs ◽  
Cooperative Research ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
Grant Support ◽  
Food And Nutrition ◽  
National Science

Within the National Science Foundation, the Division of International Programs administers the United States-Africa Cooperative Science Program. Three types of cooperative activities receive grant support under the program: cooperative research projects, scientific seminars or workshops, and scientific visits including travel to plan or confer about scientific activities. Priority is given to projects which focus on resources, food and nutrition, ecology, and engineering. Organizations which are eligible for grant funding include non-profit higher educational institutions, scientific institutes, scientific and technical institutes and similar organizations that are chartered to do business in the United States. A list of project grants for FY 1976 and FY 1977 was not obtained.

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