Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Inspections
The tables below provide up-to-date status of EPA-approved contact-handled
contact-handledA legal definition from the WIPP Land Withdrawal Act. Transuranic waste whose radioactive dose rate is less than or equal to 200 mrem per hour. Workers may directly handle drums of this waste. and remote-handledremote-handledA legal definition from the WIPP Land Withdrawal Act. Transuranic waste whose radioactive dose rate is 200 mrem per hour or greater. Drums of this waste are handled with special equipment. waste characterization activities at DOE’s transuranictransuranicElements with atomic numbers higher than uranium (92). For example, plutonium and americium are transuranics. (TRU) waste generator sites and TRU waste types approved for WIPP disposal. Also included is the table for EPA’s quality assurance (QA) audits. EPA reports listed in these tables are linked to their related dockets on Regulations.gov when available. To access a report without a link, please contact Ray Lee at Lee.Raymond@epa.gov.
- View a list of abbreviations
Abbreviation Term/Facility AMWTP Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project (Idaho Falls, ID) ANL-E Argonne National Laboratory-East (Argonne, IL) BAPL Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory (West Mifflin, PA) CBFO Carlsbad Field Office CO Carlsbad Office CTAC Carlsbad Field Office Technical Assistance Contract CCP Central Characterization Program INL Idaho National Laboratory (Idaho Falls, ID) LANL Los Alamos National Laboratory (Los Alamos, NM) LLNL Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (Livermore, CA) NTS Nevada Test Site (Las Vegas, NV) NWP Nuclear Waste Partnership ORNL Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Oak Ridge, TN) RFETS Rocky Flats National Laboratory (Denver, CO) SNL Sandia National Laboratories (Albuquerque, NM) SRS Savannah River Site (Savannah, SC)
Contact-Handled Waste Sites
| AWMTP | Hanford | INL | LANL | ORNL | SRS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baseline | ||||||
| Waste Categories/Streams | Debris and solids – Load management | Debris | Debris and solids (AMWTP) – Load Management Debris, soil, and solids (ARP) | Debris and solids and OSRP – Load Management | Debris | Soil and Debris – Load Management |
| Equipment |
4 IWAS units |
GEA A&B |
SGRS |
HENC #1& #2 |
DWAS IPAN/SGS |
IPAN |
|
Approval Date |
Dec 21, 2010 | Nov 2, 2005 | Aug 21, 2008 | Jul 10, 2006 | ||
| Continued Compliance | CH waste - April 2013 | CH wastes - June 2014 |
CH wastes - February 2011 (141) CH wastes - February 2014 |
CH wastes - June 2014 | ||
| Unannounced Inspection | CH wastes - March 2011 | NRD waste - January 2012 | ||||
| Tier 1 Changes | ||||||
| # 1 | Hanford debris in overpacks - June 2010 | SuperHENC - April/May 2011 | HENC #1 (Cal) - March 2006 No Report Issued (pre-Baseline) |
SGS (limit change) - October 2008 (108) | SGS - August 2007 (90) | |
| # 2 | ANLE and MFC debris - January 2013 | Solids Limited - November 2011 | VE for NTS waste limited - March 2009 | HENC #1 (op range) - December 2007) (95) | DWAS/IPAN (extend Cal) - January 2009 (109) | Box Counter NDA - August 2009 |
| # 3 | SDA waste - July 2013 | SuperHENC -February 2007 | HENC #2 (op range) - October 2007 | Soils except burial trench - October 2009 | Solids - March 2010 (123) | |
| # 4 | LANL waste - September 2013 | WAGS Calib - October 2008 (107) | Lead-lined containers HENC #2 - November 2010 (139) | IQ3 - March 2010 | NABC (extend Cal) - September 2010 | |
| # 5 | INL waste - February 2014 | HENC - September 2009 | SuperHENC - October 2011 | VE - March 2010 | NABC (extend Cal) - May 2011 (148) | |
| # 6 | ARP III (CBFO notification letter) - October 2008 (no EPA letter or report) | HENC 1 and Super HENC - August 2012 | Burial trench soil 2 containers - March 2011 (144) | NABC 5’ Setback - September 2012 (166) | ||
| # 7 | ARP IV (CBFO notification letter) - February 2010 (no EPA letter or report) | Soils - December 2012 | IQ 3 - June 2014 | NABC 5’ Setback - March 2014 | ||
| # 8 | WAGs Cd Filters - June 2011 (150) | Mobile ISOCS - July 2013 | Solids - July 2014 | |||
| # 9 | Unannounced NRD waste - January 2012 | MILCC2 - October 2014 | ||||
| # 10 | SGRS new calibration - February 2013 (172) | VE - November 2014 | ||||
| Tier 2 Changes Review (Site Visit) | ||||||
| # 1 | High Energy RTR - April 2011 (letter) | High Energy RTR - March 2011 (letter) | ||||
| # 2 | NABC 5’Setback for SWBs - February 2013 (171) |
Remote-Handled Waste Sites
| ANL | INL | LANL | ORNL | SRS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baseline | New waste requires new baseline | New waste requires new baseline | |||
| Waste Categories/Streams | Retrievably-stored debris stream AERHDM | Retrievably stored debris Waste Stream No. ID-ANLE-S5000 - Lots 1 through 20 | Sixteen RH TRU canisters in LANL RH Debris Waste Stream No. LA-MHD03-002 | Debris waste stream from REDC (OR-REDC-RH-HET) generated between November 1991 and February 2007 |
Debris |
| Equipment |
DTC |
DTC |
DTC |
DTC |
ISOCS & DTC |
| Approval Date (Docket Number) | January 16, 2007 | Feb 3, 2009 | April 18, 2012 | ||
| Continued Compliance |
RH wastes - February 2011 (142) RH wastes - June 2014 (190) |
RH wastes - June 2014 | |||
| WIPP Waste Information System (WWIS) - January 2007 | |||||
| Tier 1 Changes | NO CHANGES ALLOWED | ||||
| # 1 | Newly Packaged VE - July 2008 (102) | K Cell - January 2008 | SETF mid period - November 2009 | Neptunium Waste - February 2013 | |
| # 2 | K-wing debris - September 2010 | RTR - February 2007 (80) | Early Pre-SETF - April 2010 | RH-221 601 - August 2013 | |
| # 3 | Add 120 containers to AERHDM - September 2010 | DTC Probe - April 2008 | Sealed Sources - May 2014 (184) | ||
| # 4 | FEW debris -November 2010 | VET - September 2009 |
BCL debris (___) (___) |
||
| # 5 | Oct ‘08 addition of 100 containers to AERHDM - September 2010 | ANLE and HFEF Lot 1a - February 2010 | Debris Lot 1 (___) (___) | ||
| # 6 | K-Wing FEW - February 2012 | VE of A/V recordings - January 2007 | |||
| # 7 | Solidified Liquids -June 2012 | MFC - June 2010 | |||
| # 8 | RERTR & 2nd batch of fuel pins - October 2012 | NRF - November 2010 | |||
| # 9 | ACL @ ANL Evaluation -August 2012 (165) | INTEC - August 2010 | |||
| # 10 | Solidified liquids - March 2014 | HFEF Lot 1b - August 2010 (131) | |||
| # 11 | TRA Sludge -November 2010 | ||||
| # 12 | HFEF Lot 4A - March 2011 | ||||
| # 13 | NRF-SPC - March 2012 | ||||
| # 14 | HFEF Lot 2 - July 2012 | ||||
| # 15 | EBR debris Lot 5B - April 2014 | ||||
| # 16 | BTO debris Lot 3 - November 2014 | ||||
| # 17 | HFEF S5400 Lot 5C - May 2014 | ||||
| # 18 | EBR debris Lot 5A - September 2014 (188) | ||||
| # 19 | EBR debris Lot 8B - November 2014 | ||||
Small Quantity Waste Sites
| GE-VNC | Bettis | Sandia | SRS-BCL | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baseline | ||||
| Waste Categories/Streams | Debris from D&D | Debris | Debris (PKE00044) |
87 waste drum liners for BCLDP RH debris Waste Stream SR‑RL‑BCLDP.001 |
| Equipment |
DTC |
DTC VE |
DTC VE |
DTC VE |
| Approval Date (Docket Number) | Aug 26, 2009 | July 27, 2011 | November 23, 2011 | Aug 21, 2008 |
| Continued Compliance | ||||
| Tier 1 Changes | ||||
| # 1 | PKE 27/54 and 47 -March 2012 | BCL remaining waste - September 2010 |
In addition to waste characterization requirements – which include a system of controls to measure and track important waste components – each site must apply and adhere to quality assurance (QA) measures to its waste identification activities. EPA must separately approve each site’s QA program, just as they do with the waste characterization component.
EPA will continue to conduct annual QA audits and inspections at waste generator sites as necessary to verify continued compliance.
WIPP QA Audits (since 2013)
| CTAC CBFO | CBFO | NWP | ANL-E | SNL-CO | LANL-CO | ORNL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2013 | July 2013 | July 2013 | April 2014 | January 2015 | December 2014 | May 2015 |
| December 2014 | December 2014 |