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"Hanford workers have resumed digging up temporarily buried transuranic waste in central Hanford with improved technology that should take some of the surprises out of the work. Retrieval of the transuranic waste -- typically debris contaminated with plutonium -- was stopped in February by CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. when it ran into problems. Since then the Department of Energy contractor has been working on improvements to its processes. In 1970 Congress ordered transuranic waste sent to a national repository. But until the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico opened, Hanford workers have been storing waste suspected of being transuranic, often by temporarily burying it. Much of the waste that Hanford workers have dug up so far to ship to New Mexico was buried in tidy rows and information about what's underground has been available. But within the last year CH2M Hill has been progressing to more difficult burial trenches, and that's contributed to problems."

"Proposed new legal deadlines for treating or shipping Hanford's transuranic waste could extend work past the date a national repository is projected to be open to accept the waste. Proposed Tri-Party Agreement deadlines would allow the Department of Energy to continue treating or shipping transuranic wastes -- typically debris contaminated with plutonium -- through 2035. No previous deadline had been set for shipping the waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, the nation's repository for transuranic waste. But current projections anticipate WIPP will stop accepting waste in late 2030 and work then would begin to close the repository. "

EnergySolutions, Inc. (NYSE: ES) announced today it has been awarded waste remediation contracts for the management of transuarnic waste from the U.S. Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The contracts are valued at $16 million and will involve retrieval, packaging, and disposition of transuranic waste. "EnergySolutions has worked closely with Los Alamos on many projects and appreciates the confidence the DOE has in EnergySolutions to manage this waste for final disposition," said Steve Creamer, CEO and Chairman of EnergySolutions. Since 2005 EnergySolutions has been working with LANL to repackage transuranic legacy waste to meet the requirements for disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant located in Carlsbad, New Mexico. Under the newly awarded contracts, EnergySolutions will continue its operations in existing facilities as well as develop and operate two new transuranic debris processing lines through 2010.

Proposed Approval of the Central Characterization Project's Remote-Handled Transuranic Waste Characterization Program at General Electric Vallecitos Nuclear Center AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency. ACTION: Notice of availability; opening of public comment period. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or the Agency) is announcing the availability of, and soliciting public comments for 45 days on, the proposed approval of the radioactive, remote-handled (RH), transuranic (TRU) waste characterization program implemented by the Central Characterization Project (CCP) at General Electric Vallecitos Nuclear Center in Sunol, California. This waste is intended for disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico.

When dealing with old nuclear storage sites, there are always surprises -- or so it seems. That's certainly no different when it comes to dealing with the backlog of transuranic wastes at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Tony Buhl, the general manager and chief exec of EnergX, DOE's operating contractor at the Transuranic Waste Processing Center, said the surprise was the amount of water found in some of the concrete casks that have stored remote-handled TRU wastes for decades. It was up to 250 gallons in some casks, Buhl said.

Remote-handled transuranic waste resulting from decades of research activities at the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory is now being readied for safe, long-term storage out of state. Specially designed rooms called hot cells enable this environmental legacy to be safely sorted and packaged into containers with robotic arms, avoiding all human contact and supporting worker safety.

According to EnergX exec Tony Buhl, the Transuranic Waste Processing Center in Oak Ridge has processed and packaged about 15 cubic meters of remote-handled transuranic waste and is awaiting approval to send it to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. Buhl said reviews have been completed and that Oak Ridge officials are waiting on a shipping schedule from DOE's Carlsbad Office. "It's going to be in the next month," he said Wednesday. "I'm quite confident of that." EnergX is operating contractor at the DOE waste facility. The RH TRU waste is the hottest stuff in the Oak Ridge waste portfolio.

DOE was supposed to submit a detailed plan for removal and diposition of the transuranic waste remaining in notorious Trench 13 at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The plan was due by March 31. Instead, DOE has asked the Tennessee Dept. of Environment and Conservation for an extension. John Owsley of TDEC said the state is preparing a response. Trench 13 is located in the north part of Solid Waste Storage Area No. 5. For those who don't remember, the trench contains some transuranic waste -- including about 12 grams of plutonium -- in 50 to 70 Mason jars. Workers were attempting to excavate the site a few years back when flames shot up out of the ground, bringing a halt to work. The site was later stabilzed, but it's been on hold ever since.

"Los Alamos National Laboratory is nearly doubling its number of weekly shipments to the federal government's underground nuclear waste dump in southeastern New Mexico. Lab officials say the campaign announced Thursday will eliminate a backlog of about 1,500 drums of transuranic waste that are awaiting shipment to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad. A crew from Tennessee's Oak Ridge National Laboratory will move temporarily to Los Alamos to double the lab's loading capacity. The loading facility also will move to a 7-day operation. Los Alamos lab usually completes four shipments per week to WIPP. That will increase to seven during the campaign. The transuranic waste consists of tools, rags, protective clothing, sludge, soil and other materials contaminated with radioactive elements."

The Environmental Protection Agency is still seeking more information related to the latest errant drum shipped from Los Alamos National Laboratory to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. In June, a drum of transuranic waste with an open non-conformance report was mistakenly shipped from Los Alamos to WIPP and emplaced in the underground repository near Carlsbad.

The Savannah River Site (SRS) achieved a significant milestone Wednesday when the 1,000th shipment of transuranic (TRU) waste was made to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) located near Carlsbad, N.M. The shipment marks the eighth year of SRS shipping radioactive waste from South Carolina to New Mexico without incident. SRS made its first shipment of TRU waste to WIPP on May 8, 2001. SRS has safely shipped more than 28,200 55-gallon drums of TRU waste for disposal at the WIPP geologic repository since that time. "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. "Every shipment is inspected by the South Carolina Department of Transportation and the Department of Health and Environmental Control to assure it's safe to go on the road before it's released. Both agencies have played important roles in maintaining the safety of shipments and supporting the Department of Energy in this accomplishment." Since the beginning of SRS operations in the early 1950s, more than 30,000 drums and 3,000 non-drum containers of TRU waste have accumulated on concrete pads, where they were covered over with soil, awaiting final disposition.

The Department of Energy (DOE) is accusing its management and operations contractor of "poor management" and said that delays in removing certain legacy waste is undermining its confidence to meet contractual goals. In a letter from Savannah River Site Manager Jeff Allison, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) was informed Dec. 1 that its seeming inabilities to meet deadlines for the removal of legacy transuranic waste (TRU) from SRS "undermine DOE's confidence in SRNS' ability to achieve DOE's performance expectations for the overall TRU project." Savannah River Operations Office (DOE-SR) Manager Allison sent the letter to SRNS President and CEO Garry Flowers, stating that 4,200 cubic meters of legacy TRU must successfully be disposed of by Sept. 30, 2012. "However, recent performance suggests this expectation may not be realized," Allison wrote. "I find this disconcerting, especially given the past history of success with this project."

The Department of Energy (DOE) is accusing its management and operations contractor of "poor management" and said that delays in removing certain legacy waste is undermining its confidence to meet contractual goals. In a letter from Savannah River Site Manager Jeff Allison, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) was informed Dec. 1 that its seeming inabilities to meet deadlines for the removal of legacy transuranic waste (TRU) from SRS "undermine DOE's confidence in SRNS' ability to achieve DOE's performance expectations for the overall TRU project." Savannah River Operations Office (DOE-SR) Manager Allison sent the letter to SRNS President and CEO Garry Flowers, stating that 4,200 cubic meters of legacy TRU must successfully be disposed of by Sept. 30, 2012. "However, recent performance suggests this expectation may not be realized," Allison wrote. "I find this disconcerting, especially given the past history of success with this project."

"Radioactive waste was being readied for isolation plant A Savannah River Site worker is being evaluated for internal radioactive contamination after an accident in which his finger was punctured by waste materials. The incident occurred Monday in the site's F-Area, where employees hired by Savannah River Nuclear Solutions were conducting transuranic waste remediation work, said Jim Giusti, a U.S. Energy Department spokesman at the site. "His finger was punctured by something in the waste, and the waste is contaminated with radionuclides," he said. "It got into his skin and potentially into his blood. So we have a series of protocols we have to go through.""

The second construction in the plutonium disposition complex at SRS broke ground Friday and was proclaimed "the cornerstone ... of a new nuclear age." Project workers and dignitaries spoke before the first shovels of dirt were turned over on the $345 million facility. Ken Chacey, director of site engineering and construction management for the National Nuclear Security Administration, said the event was "a huge event for America" as a move toward energy independence. The Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MOX) will turn weapons-grade plutonium into fuel assemblies in use in commercial nuclear reactors. The new facility is the Waste Solidification Building (WSB), which will process low-level and transuranic liquid waste streams from MOX and pit disassembly operations.

Treating radioactive wastes lingering from the Cold War era when the United States experimented with nuclear weapons at the Nevada Test Site is in its final chapter, the National Nuclear Security Administration said today. Since completing 48 shipments involving 1,860 55-gallon drums of what's known as "transuranic," or TRU, wastes from the Test Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M. In November 2005, Nevada is preparing another 58 oversized boxes for disposal.

Union workers in Hanford, Wash., protested the Federal Building in nearby Richland Thursday to call attention to changes in the way some radioactive waste will be handled, the Tri-City Herald newspaper reported. As many as 50 workers held signs saying "Tri-City $$$ going to Idaho" and "Don't Outsource Employment" cars from the Department of Energy site in Hanford slowed and honked. DOE plans to send 1,000 drums of transuranic waste - most of it debris contaminated with plutonium - to Idaho for compaction and then shipment to a repository in New Mexico for disposal, the paper reported.

An outline to fund the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant was part of a funding package signed by President Bush Tuesday night, according to a news release from the office of Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M. Article Launched: 10/01/2008 09:05:09 PM MDT WIPP is a U.S. Department of Energy facility designed to safely isolate defense-related transuranic waste from people and the environment. Waste temporarily stored at sites around the country is shipped to WIPP and permanently disposed of in rooms mined out of an ancient salt formation 2,150 feet below the surface. WIPP, which began waste disposal operations in 1999, is located 26 miles outside of Carlsbad.

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant has resumed accepting shipments of radioactive waste from Los Alamos National Laboratory. The shipments from the northern New Mexico lab were stopped in June when a transuranic waste drum with prohibited levels of liquid was sent to the waste repository. The drum was later recovered and removed from the site. Shipments from sites other than Los Alamos resumed in June, but an investigation had to be done before the lab's shipments would be allowed to continue.

Motorists across the South could soon be sharing the highway with nuclear waste generated decades ago in developing the first atomic bomb. Tons of this so-called "transuranic waste" have been waiting for years to leave what is now the Oak Ridge National Laboratory for a final home in New Mexico, where the government has built a permanent vault in salt beds nearly a half-mile deep.

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (AP) -- An Idaho nuclear watchdog group has asked the U.S. Department of Energy to conduct more environmental studies before going ahead with a plan that would increase the amount of nuclear waste being sent to eastern Idaho for processing. The Snake River Alliance, in a May 14 letter to U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, asked that more analysis be done before going through with the plan that makes the Idaho National Laboratory the nation's primary processing center for transuranic waste from nuclear sites that don't have their own processing capabilities.