WIPP Quick Facts
(As of 6-10-09)

7,470
Shipments received since opening
(7,240 CH and 230 RH)

60,533
Cubic meters of waste disposed
(60,431 CH and 102 RH)

115,232
Containers disposed in the
underground
(115,005 CH and 227 RH)

Triay Named Assistant Secretary
for Environmental Management

 “Dr. Triay’s work ethic and strong sense of responsibility toward the taxpayer make her an outstanding selection as Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management,” said Dr. Dave Moody, CBFO manager. “We are also pleased that someone with Dr. Triay’s extensive knowledge about the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant will direct our nation’s nuclear waste cleanup efforts.”

In 1999, then DOE Energy Secretary Bill Richardson appointed Triay as the manager of DOE’s Carlsbad Area Office. The following year, the office was elevated to a Field Office.  During her tenure with WIPP, Triay was credited with significantly accelerating the national effort to clean up TRU waste.

In 2005, Triay became the Chief Operating Officer for EM, and she was later named Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of EM in October 2007.

During her nomination hearing in April, Triay talked about the importance of safety, noting that safe operations and cleanup of the nuclear weapons complex is the office’s “ever present and ultimate goal.”

She also emphasized high expectations.

“I have a long history of demanding excellence from my team. Nothing less than performance that results in delivering our projects on time and within cost will be acceptable from the Environmental Management federal team and our contractors,” she said. 

Born in Cuba, Triay came to the United States when she was three years old. Raised in Puerto Rico, she earned her Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Miami, Fla. and conducted her post-doctoral studies at Los Alamos. Prior to working for the DOE, Triay spent 14 years with the Los Alamos National Laboratory.  She talked about her parents during her nomination hearing.

“It would have been impossible to believe that their daughter would ever be nominated by the President of the United States to serve this great country,” she said. “My parents and I are proud to be naturalized citizens of the United States of America and are humbled by the honor of my being here today.”

Los Alamos National Laboratory ships
RH-TRU waste to WIPP

The first shipment of remote-handled (RH) TRU waste from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in northern New Mexico arrived safely at WIPP in the southeast corner of the state last week. 

“Shipping this waste to WIPP is important for our national cleanup mission, but this event is especially important for New Mexicans,” said DOE Carlsbad Field Office Manager Dave Moody.  “It’s great to see progress being made right here in our own state.”

WIPP began disposing of RH-TRU waste in January 2007.  LANL is the fifth site to ship RH-TRU waste to WIPP, following the Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho, Argonne National Laboratory in Ill., the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tenn. and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. 

LANL holds an important place in WIPP history—it was the first site to ship CH-TRU waste to WIPP in March 1999.  To date, LANL has made more than 455 shipments of CH-TRU waste to WIPP.

NO PERSONAL MAIL DELIVERY

Please remember that the WIPP Mail Services group does not mail personal mail per DOE M 573.1-1 – Mail Services User’s Manual.  We appreciate your compliance.

Savannah River Site makes its
1,000th TRU Waste Shipment to WIPP

Last week, the 1000th TRU waste shipment left the Savannah River Site (SRS) destined for WIPP. SRS has safely shipped 28,200 waste containers to WIPP since 2001.   

“This is a significant accomplishment for the Savannah River Site and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, demonstrating the Department of Energy’s commitment to cleaning up legacy waste sites and safely disposing of the waste inventories,” said Jeff Allison, manager of DOE’s Savannah River Operations Office.”

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), the management and operating contractor at SRS, is continuing to inspect its containerized TRU waste inventory, remove prohibited items (e.g., aerosol cans and liquids) and then repackage and characterize the remaining legacy TRU wastes to ensure its meets WIPP disposal standards.  

“In the next two and half years, the remaining legacy TRU waste at the Savannah River Site will be disposed of or readied for shipment to WIPP.  This important footprint reduction work is now being funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and will be completed more than seven years earlier than planned,” said Chuck Munns, president and CEO of SRNS.

WIPP participates in NM DOT Open House

Phil Godin of Visionary Solutions and Mike Nelson of WTS Communications explain the transportation side of WIPP to Roswell elementary school students as part of the New Mexico Department of Transportation District Two Open House.

WIPP emergency responders train locally

Practice makes perfect, especially when fighting fires.  And now, WIPP emergency response personnel will have a local option for honing their skills.  Starting earlier this year, WIPP’s fire brigade members, including Emergency Service Technicians, Security personnel and volunteers on the Emergency Response and First Line Initial Response teams, have been able to complete live fire training at the Permian Basin Regional Training Center in Carlsbad, N.M.

Craig Heine, WTS Technical Training, says WIPP responders must maintain their qualifications on an annual basis.  With quarterly training sessions now available in Carlsbad, he expects to save costs in   travel, lodging and meal expenses.

“Training right here at home has proven to be great for us,” Heine said.  “We used to have to travel out of town, which meant more time away from work and family.  We’re fortunate to have this state-of-the-art facility available, which allows us different options in executing fire extinguishment techniques.”

In addition, the local facility offers some real training advantages.  The campus is set up to provide training on a number of fire-fighting scenarios that include a multi-storied building, a residential structure, a vehicle, a hazardous spill and propane tanks.

At the Center, live fires are fueled by propane, rather than burning wood pallets or other material.  The benefits of this type of ignition are the ability to immediately start or extinguish the fire safely from a control panel-- which is critical if an actual emergency occurs during training--and it makes it possible to repeat a scenario, as necessary. 

Another benefit is the time and money saved by not having to stack material to burn and the cleanup of debris after the fire is out.  Finally, propane emits less pollution into the air.

CHS students learn about nuclear science
from WIPP scientists

The next generation of physicists, chemists and biologists learned about nuclear science from WIPP experts at a nuclear symposium held recently at Carlsbad High School. Approximately 150 CHS students attended the symposium.

For the fourth year in a row, Jef Lucchini, an actinide chemist with Los Alamos National Laboratory-Carlsbad Operations (LANL-CO), organized the outreach program in collaboration with CHS science teachers and administration.

Above: Dr. Jef Lucchini (LANL-CO) presented the concept of radioactive decay to Carlsbad High School students at the 4th annual nuclear symposium.

In the morning, the students attended six lectures held at the high school, and in the afternoon, they toured New Mexico State University’s Carlsbad Environmental Monitoring and Research Center (CEMRC).

Lucchini started the lecture session with an overview of radioactivity and nuclear science. CEMRC scientist Yair Grof explained how changes in background radiation might influence living cells. Joe Kanney, a scientist with Sandia National Laboratories-Carlsbad Programs Group, presented options for the end of the nuclear fuel cycle that are currently in use all over the world and Washington TRU Solutions (WTS) engineer Rob Hayes emphasized the importance of education in a professional career.

WIPP was the highlight of the lecture session, since the project celebrated its 10th anniversary of safe operations earlier this year.  Bill Weston, with Washington Regulatory & Environmental Services, gave a general talk about WIPP and its mission to protect human health and the environment by disposing of TRU waste in an underground salt repository. A presentation on the WIPP radiation monitoring program was given by WTS’ Tom Goff.

The students broke into groups during the afternoon at CEMRC. This allowed them to better interact with scientists from the center, Washington Safety Management Solutions and the LANL-CO Actinide Chemistry and Repository Science Program. Activities included a few videos, a presentation of CEMRC’s internal dosimetry program and a tour of the labs. Handouts from the American Nuclear Society (ANS) were also available.

The ANS Carlsbad chapter offered scholarships to two CHS seniors, Matt Stroble and Lisa Greenup, who had the best scores on a 20-question quiz. The high quality and accuracy of the responses told the organizers that the main messages of the day were well understood by the students. At left: Matt Stroble (left) and Lisa Greenup posed with Dr. Joe Kanney (SNL) after receiving their scholarships from ANS.

“This is actually a great satisfaction for us," Lucchini said.

The results of an anonymous survey given to the students at the end of the day were also very encouraging.

“The students enjoyed the symposium," Lucchini said. “It was very educational. They realized that radiation isn't something to be afraid of and they learned a lot about the WIPP.”