Waste Isolation Pilot Plant

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The Department of Energy Carlsbad Area Office located in Carlsbad, New Mexico, manages both the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant program and the National Transuranic program. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant is located in southeastern New Mexico, 42 kilometers (26 miles) from Carlsbad, and occupies approximately 4,100 hectares (10,240 acres) in Eddy County.

FACILITY MISSION

In 1979, Congress authorized the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant to demonstrate the safe disposal of radioactive waste from defense activities of the Federal Government. The radioactive waste that will be accepted at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant includes transuranic waste and transuranic mixed waste. Transuranic waste is radioactive waste, regardless of source or form, contaminated with alpha-emitting transuranic radionuclides with atomic numbers greater than 92, (that is, plutonium and other elements with atomic numbers higher than that of uranium) having half-lives longer than 20 years, and concentrations greater than 100 nanocuries per gram of waste. Transuranic mixed waste is transuranic waste that also contains hazardous materials regulated by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant is a geologic repository mined approximately 655 meters (2,150 feet) below the surface in a massive formation of rock salt. It consists of an area in which experiments were conducted to study the properties of the host rock, access drifts, and a much larger waste disposal area. The repository has surface facilities in which waste will be received and inspected, and four shafts that connect the surface facilities with the underground.

The basic mission of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant is to provide permanent disposal for transuranic waste from defense activities. No high-level waste or spent fuel will be placed there. At present, the near-term mission is to complete various scientific studies and to demonstrate that the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant will provide permanent isolation of the waste in a safe and environmentally acceptable manner. Compliance with the applicable laws and regulations will be demonstrated and documentation will be submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency and the State of New Mexico.

There are no other Environmental Management program activities at the Carlsbad Area Office. All Waste Isolation Pilot Plant-generated transuranic waste will be disposed of in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant repository; therefore the Department does not envision any environmental restoration requirements other than decommissioning. Decommissioning activities and associated costs are included in Waste Management program costs.

National Transuranic Program

The mission of the National Transuranic program is to ensure the transuranic mixed waste the Department of Energy owns is effectively and systematically managed from its generation to its final disposal. The National Transuranic program will develop strategic plans and program guidance for the generation, characterization, certification, packaging, transportation, and disposal of transuranic waste and it will develop and direct the implementation of program guidance. The National Transuranic program will assess compliance with program guidance and ensure that activities are coordinated among all the sites at which transuranic waste is generated or stored.

FUTURE USE

This report assumes the period for receiving and dispositioning transuranic waste at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant will be at least 35 years. This period will start on the day the plant receives the first drum of transuranic waste. At the completion of the disposal phase, five years will be required to prepare the repository for permanent closure and decommission the surface facilities. This report assumes there is sufficient capacity to dispose of all transuranic waste in the complex. Monuments and markers will be built at the site to warn people of the presence of the repository. Institutional controls over the site will be maintained for 100 years. The site will be restored to its natural habitat by FY 2038. This report considers the future use of this site to be Controlled Access.

WASTE MANAGEMENT

On October 21, 1993, the Department revised the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant test strategy. Underground radioactive waste tests will not be conducted at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant site, and the facility will no longer be required to maintain readiness to receive radioactive waste. Instead, the Department will conduct an enhanced laboratory program. In addition, the compliance certification application document was accelerated, and a draft was submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency in March 1995. A final compliance certification package will be submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency by October 1996. A Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Part B permit application was submitted in May, 1995.

The revised test strategy encompasses: (1) performance assessments to evaluate compliance with the applicable Environmental Protection Agency regulations; (2) studies to provide the scientific basis for performance assessments, including laboratory tests with transuranic mixed waste at other Department of Energy sites; (3) the decisionmaking process to determine whether transuranic waste and transuranic mixed waste can be emplaced in the repository for disposal. The purpose of the revised test strategy is to accelerate the assessment of the long-term performance of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant repository.

In addition to those activities required to maintain and operate the base facility, activities were initiated in FY 1996 to re-establish facility readiness to receive radioactive waste. After waste disposal operations are initiated in FY 1998, waste emplacement activities will continue throughout the operational phase of the project.

The National Transuranic program is developing strategic plans and program guidance for transuranic waste generation, characterization, certification, packaging, transportation, and disposal. The National Transuranic program develops and directs implementation of the program, while Department of Energy Headquarters, working through the generator/storage sites, establishes policy guidelines. The National Transuranic program assesses compliance with the program guidance, as well as the commonality of activities and assumptions among all the sites. Preparation of compliance documents is supported by waste characterization at Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site, Argonne National Laboratory-West and Argonne National Laboratory-East.

No contingency plans currently exist to handle the Department of Energy transuranic waste inventory if the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant is determined to be an unsuitable location for the disposal of transuranic waste. Ten major Department of Energy sites and several smaller sites nationwide store or generate transuranic waste.

The programs supported by the Carlsbad Area Office are direct-funded for waste management activities. There are no Environmental Restoration or Nuclear Material and Facility Stabilization program funds associated with the activities at this site.

Transuranic Waste

GENERATION AND HANDLING

The National Transuranic program is developing a management plan that will be completed in September 1996. It will identify the transportation and disposal schedules for the current and projected inventories. This report assumes that once the facility is operational, transportation of all transuranic waste from Environmental Management sites to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant will be paid for by the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. Characterization and packaging costs are the responsibility of the waste generator.

TREATMENT

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant will accept transuranic waste that is certified to meet the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant waste acceptance criteria. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant will not treat the transuranic waste it receives, and no surface storage will be provided at the site.

Sanitary waste generated at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant is disposed of in an offsite licensed municipal landfill. Hazardous waste is disposed of offsite in a commercial treatment and disposal facility. Any transuranic waste generated at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant will be placed in the repository.

DISPOSAL

By law, the maximum capacity for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant is 175,500 cubic meters (229,600 cubic yards) for both contact-handled and remote-handled waste. No more than 5 percent of the total volume of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant may be remote-handled waste. The estimate includes disposal costs for all transuranic waste generated by Environmental Management sites nationwide.

TRANSPORTATION

The Department of Energy has studied three potential methods of transporting transuranic waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: truck, regular train, and dedicated train. The Department has studied the truck transportation option in more detail than the two rail options. Transportation by truck would involve a dedicated fleet of modified flatbed trailers that are attached to specialized tractors. The trailers would carry up to three Transuranic Package Transporter Model II containers of contact-handled transuranic waste or one cask containing remote-handled transuranic waste. The contract carrier would be required to employ qualified, trained, and dedicated drivers in accordance with requirements contained in Code of Federal Regulations Title 49, Parts 172, 177, and 391.

The Transuranic Package Transporter Model II is certified by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and is maintained in accordance with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Certificate of Compliance. The cost of the Transuranic Package Transporter Model II is a direct cost, and is included in the National Transuranic program costs. Funding in the outyears will provide a transportation system with the capacity and capability to transport all certified transuranic waste from applicable Environmental Management sites to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.

Direct Program Management/Support

All Carlsbad Area Office program management costs are directly related to the development and operations for transuranic waste storage, transportation, and disposal. Carlsbad Area Office federal employees provide overall management support, and the program management line of site summary identifies their costs.In support of Waste Isolation Pilot Plant activities and in compliance with regulatory requirements, the Department of Energy has entered into several agreements with federal, regional, state, local, and tribal governments. These agreements require payment of funds to maintain certain programs within the jurisdiction of the affected agencies. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant or the National Transuranic program has agreements with the following organizations to perform work: the United States Bureau of Land Management, the United States Bureau of Mines, the New Mexico Emergency Response Program, the Western Governors Association, the Shoshone-Bannock Indian Tribes, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Southern States Energy Board, the Environmental Evaluation Group, the Carlsbad Environmental Monitoring Research Center, and the Carlsbad Department of Development.

DESCRIPTION OF PERSONNEL

Current Composition

Current staffing requirements represent a site-wide mix of federal employees, contractors, and subcontractors, as presented in the following table. The federal work force consists mainly of managers, administrative support, professionals, engineers, and scientists. This work force supports the oversight of site operations and the management of the interface between regulators, Headquarters, and other organizations necessary to support the mission and vision of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. The contractor provides a mix of professional staff and labor personnel who conduct the day-to-day site operations.

* The Projections for Full-Time Equivalent employees are based on FY 1996 planning baselines (see Reader's Guide).

Site Management Structure

The Carlsbad Area Office has adopted Department of Energy Contract Reform initiatives through successful negotiation and performance regarding the first performance-based contract in the Department of Energy complex. Contracts include incentives for measurable performance in the areas of safety, deliverables, compliance, plant availability, and cost control.The current contract has placed more risk for performance and cost control on the management and operating contractor, by converting the previously Cost Plus Award Fee contract into three types, namely, Firm Fixed Price, Fixed Price Incentive, and Cost Plus Award Fee.The management and operating contractor has successfully outsourced its records management and security scopes of work (approximately four percent of the FY 1995 contract value), while obtaining "best-in-class" performance at a lower cost. Current subcontracts include transportation, technical services, architectural and engineering services, and janitorial services. Less than 50 percent of the Carlsbad Area Office funding is provided to the management and operating contractor. Various funding vehicles are used, including: task orders and contracts to Department of Energy national laboratories and other Department of Energy management and operating contractors, interagency agreements, cooperative agreements, and grants.

Future Full-Time Equivalent Needs

The future Full-Time Equivalent Common Occupational Classification System mix for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant site is not expected to change significantly or to be modified after FY 1999. As the site becomes fully operational, the mix of personnel will change from scientists to engineers and operators. Focus will be placed upon process flow improvements while maintaining a high degree of safety.

FUNDING ESTIMATE

The following table presents estimated funding information for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.

COMPARISON WITH PREVIOUS ESTIMATE

The 1996 life cycle estimate is approximately 12 percent more than the 1995 estimate. The inclusion of the Carlsbad Area Office in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant estimate rather than in the Albuquerque Operations Office estimate added $432 million. The National Transuranic Program estimate was reduced by $593 million. $10 million per year was added to meet new security and monitoring requirements in the Land Withdrawal Act. An additional $620 million was added for continued economic support to the State of New Mexico from FY 2013 to FY 2044. Finally, the Baseline Environmental Management Report uses constant dollars. Last year's Baseline Environmental Management Report used FY 1995 constant dollars. This year's report uses FY 1996 constant dollars. This accounts for an increase of $275 million in the estimate.