WIPP News:

Sean Dunagan, Research and Development Manager with Sandia National Laboratories, has been appointed as the Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO) Senior WIPP Recovery Manager, effective Dec. 8, 2014. He replaces Tom Teynor, who returned to Hanford to be the Federal Project Manager of the Plutonium Finishing Plant project.

Directly leading and representing the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Recovery Project, Mr. Dunagan will report to CBFO Manager Joe Franco, and serve as the DOE Environmental Management Project on-site manager to lead the restoration of the WIPP facility and resumption of critical transuranic (TRU) shipments to WIPP.

WIPP annual emergency response exercise

As part of its Corrective Action Plans in response to the Accident Investigation Board reports for the February fire and radiological events, the WIPP Emergency Response Organization (ERO) has undergone extensive change over the past nine months. In addition to adding new personnel, there have been major revisions to procedures and checklists and a robust Drill and Exercise Program was developed to ensure WIPP personnel are prepared to respond to any future emergencies.

WIPP’s ERO has been conducting drills on a weekly basis since April. WIPP will conduct its annual graded, full-scale emergency exercise Dec. 10 to demonstrate and evaluate the ability of the Department of Energy and the Carlsbad Field Office site-level ERO to recognize, respond to, contain, and mitigate an operational emergency at the site. Additional local, state and federal agencies are also participating in the exercise.