At the dawn of discovery ...

Science@WIPP

The deep geologic repository at WIPP is more than a place to dispose of transuranic (TRU) waste – it’s also a science laboratory. Following the designation of the Department of Energy’s Carlsbad office as a field office in 2000, numerous universities and research institutions across the nation sought to take advantage of WIPP’s strong safety culture, open door policy, and extremely low levels of natural background radiation in the underground.

It’s an excellent environment for a variety of scientific disciplines to conduct experiments, and it’s a testimony to the success of the underground repository that the nearby radioactive waste does not in any way impede experiments which require minimal exposure to radiation.  WIPP’s visiting scientists have become regular members of the facility’s working community.

Lunch pails in tow, they join the facility’s radiation control technicians, miners, waste handlers, and underground operations employees in the daily trek 2,150 feet down into the underground repository. A summary of several ongoing research projects at WIPP follows: