Waste handlers pause for a photo in front of the last transuranic waste containers to be emplaced in Panel 7 of WIPP underground. From left, Chaz McIntire, Diana Bullen, Carlos Ceballos and Kimberly Briones. Courtesy/DOE

DOE News:

CARLSBAD — At long last, Panel 7 at EM’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is full.

Crews carefully stacked the last column of transuranic (TRU) waste containers in the panel’s final disposal room Thursday, completing emplacement activities prior to the panel being permanently sealed.

“This important milestone has been a long time coming,” Carlsbad Field Office Manager Reinhard Knerr said. “Filling Panel 7 allows us to continue our important national mission of disposing of transuranic waste, which ensures people living near sites where TRU waste is currently stored are safer today because of WIPP’s role in EM’s nuclear waste cleanup strategy. I’m very appreciative of our dedicated workforce and all that they do.”

Emplacement activities next move to the newly mined Panel 8, which received official certification from the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) in August. NMED regulates the disposal of radioactive and hazardous mixed waste at WIPP.

“This is a tremendous milestone and marks the beginning of a new day at WIPP,” Sean Dunagan said, president and project manager for Nuclear Waste Partnership, WIPP’s management and operations contractor. “I am extremely proud of our employees and their hard work.”