Los Alamos Completes 200th Transuranic Waste Shipment to WIPP

The 200th transuranic shipment from Technical Area 54, Area G, at Los Alamos National Laboratory heads to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant for permanent emplacement.

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. — The U.S. Department of Energy Environmental Management Los Alamos Field Office (EM-LA) legacy cleanup contractor at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) completed its 200th shipment of transuranic waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) for safe disposal earlier this month.

The 200th shipment consisted of three standard waste boxes containing segments of corrugated metal pipes (CMPs) formerly buried at Area G in LANL’s Technical Area 54. The CMPs contained cemented radioactive liquid waste from a former LANL radioactive liquid waste treatment facility that operated during the Cold War era. In 2024, Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos LLC (N3B) completed work to retrieve and size-reduce the set of 158 CMPs, and began shipping them to WIPP earlier this summer.

“Reducing the inventory of transuranic waste here at LANL is one of the most visible aspects of our entire legacy cleanup mission and an important priority for the pueblos and stakeholders of northern New Mexico,” EM-LA Manager Jessica Kunkle said. “I want to congratulate all those at N3B who played a role in reaching this milestone. We still have more work ahead of us, and our focus remains on safely reducing the remaining inventory of legacy waste.”

EM-LA and N3B manage transuranic waste produced during LANL’s legacy nuclear weapons research and production operations. That waste consists of materials such as protective clothing, tools, equipment, soil and debris contaminated with elements heavier than uranium, including plutonium or americium.

Since beginning shipments in October 2018, N3B has sent more than 665 cubic meters of transuranic waste — or about 3,194 55-gallon drums — from Technical Area 54 to WIPP.

“Our 200th transuranic waste shipment represents tangible progress in one of the core areas of our work at LANL,” N3B President and General Manager Brad Smith said. “I’m proud of all those at N3B who played a role in getting us to this point. There’s more to be done, and the N3B workforce’s ongoing emphasis on safety and operational excellence will continue to be critical as we work to address the remaining legacy waste at LANL.”

-Contributor: Michael Nartker