WIPP TRANSURANIC WASTE
INVENTORY
2005 EPA WIPP
RECERTIFICATION FACT SHEET No. 4
How has the WIPP TRU Waste Inventory Changed
Since the 1998 Certification Decision?
As DOE proceeds with site clean-ups across the country,
knowledge about TRU waste improves. At the time of the
1998 Certification Decision, no waste had been emplaced
in WIPP, therefore the entire waste inventory was an es-
timation of the waste DOE might put in WIPP. The recer-
tification waste inventory contains the actual data for the
waste that has been disposed of in WIPP as of September,
2002, and an estimate of the waste that will fill the rest of
the repository.
Will All Waste in the TRU Waste Inventory be
Shipped to WIPP?
Just because waste is included in the TRU waste inven-
tory, does not mean that DOE will necessarily seek to ship
it to WIPP or that EPA will approve it for disposal at WIPP.
Before any waste is shipped or disposed of at WIPP, EPA
seeks to ensure that the waste meets the waste accep-
tance criteria for WIPP and that DOE can characterize and
track the waste.
Does the Current WIPP Waste Inventory Contain
High-level Waste (HLW)?
According to the WIPP Land Withdrawal Act, HLW cannot
be disposed of at WIPP. EPA will not allow DOE to ship
any waste that does not meet the legal and technical re-
quirements for disposal at WIPP. However, the recertifica-
tion waste inventory does contain a small amount of tank
waste from the Hanford site that is currently managed as
high-level waste. None of this waste has been approved by
EPA for disposal at WIPP.
DOE has provided documentation that indicates that these
Hanford tank wastes will be treated and will eventually be
able to meet the WIPP waste acceptance criteria. For the
purpose of Recertification, EPA is allowing DOE to put this
waste in the projected inventory used in the performance
What is the Transuranic (TRU) Waste Inventory?
The TRU waste inventory describes the type, volume, and
radioactivity of waste already disposed of in the WIPP,
as well as waste at various sites across the country that
could potentially be sent to WIPP. This information is
used in the performance assessment (PA) calculations to
demonstrate compliance with EPA's disposal regulations.
Before the disposal of any waste at WIPP, EPA inspects
the site that generated the waste to confirm that DOE
can measure and track the amount, and radioactive and
physical form of the waste. Since 1998, EPA has conduct-
ed over 100 inspections at DOE waste generator sites.
EPA also inspects operations at the WIPP site annually.
During annual inspections EPA verifies tracking of waste
being shipped from other DOE sites, and confirms that
WIPP continues to meet the waste limits established by
EPA's certification.
assessment. EPA believes that it is prudent to include the
characteristics of waste that may potentially be disposed
of at WIPP to ensure compliance with the agency's dispos-
al regulations for TRU defense waste. Prior to disposal at
WIPP, EPA will ensure that all wastes meet the legal and
technical requirements for disposal.
Can Waste that is not Currently in the Inventory go
to WIPP?
As DOE continues to characterize waste throughout its
facilities, waste will continue to be identified for disposal
at WIPP. TRU waste that is not included in the current
waste inventory may still be allowed for disposal at WIPP,
but only if all of the following conditions are met:
United States Environmental Protection Agency I Office of Air and Radiation (6608J) I EPA402-F-05-007 I June 2005
www.epa.gov/radiation/wipp
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1. EPA determines that the waste
characteristics meet the limits for
WIPP disposal,
2. Waste characteristics are reflected
in the performance assessment,
and
3. The waste meets all the criteria
for acceptability at WIPP.
EPA Requested Additional Infor-
mation on the Waste Inventory
EPA asked for additional informa-
tion on the Hanford Tank Waste and
K-Basin Sludges that were included
in the waste inventory for recertifica-
tion. EPA specifically asked DOE for
further explanation on how this waste
does or could meet the criteria for
WIPP waste. For more information
on this, see Issue Paper #3, Hanford
Tank Wastes and K-Basin Sludges.
As part of the completeness review of
the Recertification Application, EPA
also asked DOE to provide additional
information on volumes and weights
of all materials placed in the reposi-
tory, including the waste containers
and packaging material. EPA has
also requested DOE's waste inventory
database.
EPA's Technical Evaluation
During EPA's technical evaluation of
the Recertification Application, EPA
will focus on the following aspects of
the updated TRU waste inventory:
1) EPA will examine DOE's process
forgathering information about
the waste inventory from the gen-
erator sites.
2) EPA will verify that DOE appro-
priately followed its process for
gathering information about the
waste inventory.
3) EPA will make sure that the infor-
mation about the waste inventory
is appropriately incorporated into
the recertification performance
assessment.
Locations of WIPP Generator Sites
Legend
Major DOE TRU Waste Sites
Major site with all WIPP waste
already shipped
Small Quantity Sites
Approximately 28,000 cubic meters (990,000 cubic feet) of CH waste
have been disposed of at the WIPP facility as of June 1, 2005. No RH
waste has been disposed of at WIPP to date. Approximately 102,000 cubic
meters (3,600,000 cubic feet) of CH waste, and about 7,080 cubic meters
(250,000 cubic feet) of RH waste, are currently stored at DOE sites across
the country and are awaiting disposal at WIPP.
Waste Limits
The WIPP Land Withdrawal Act (LWA)
limits the amount of TRU waste that
can be disposed of at WIPP to 6.2 mil-
lion cubic feet (175,570 cubic meters).
Of this amount, DOE is limited to
disposal of 250,000 cubic feet (7,080
cubic meters) of remote handled waste
according to an agreement with the
State of New Mexico.
Contact handled (CH) waste is TRU
waste with a surface dose not greater
than 200 millirem per hour. This waste
is typically disposed of in 55-gallon
steel drums, 100 gallon drums, ten
drum overpacks, standard waste boxes
or similar containers.
Remote handled (RH) waste is TRU
waste with a surface dose rate of 200
millirem per hour or greater. Because
this waste has higher radioactivity it
must be disposed of at WIPP using re-
motely operated equipment. Specialized
containers have been developed for this
type of waste. This waste will be placed
in walls of the repository. The LWA puts
several limits on RH TRU waste includ-
ing the radioactivity concentration that
any one RH container may contain, the
total curies of waste activity that may
be emplaced, and the maximum surface
dose rates of RH containers.
EPA has approved DOE's general plans
for the disposal of RH waste as WIPP.
The next step will be for DOE to request
EPA approval of site-specific plans to
characterize RH waste. EPA will then
conduct a thorough review of waste
characterization activities at each site.
Fact Sheets in this Series:
Recertification Overview Fact Sheet No. 1
Public Involvement Fact Sheet No. 2
Performance Assessment Fact Sheet No. 3
TRU Waste Inventory Fact Sheet No. 4
Groundwater
Karst
Fact Sheet No. 5
Fact Sheet No. 6
United States Environmental Protection Agency I Office of Air and Radiation (6608J) I EPA402-F-05-007 I June 2005
www.epa.gov/radiation/wipp
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