The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is an operational facility for permanent disposal of transuranic (TRU) waste generated by defense programs of the United States of America. Sandia National Laboratories has played a primary role in the development of the WIPP and its eventual permitting by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Principal responsibilities delegated by DOE to Sandia, the WIPP's Scientific Advisor, are site selection and characterization, experimental studies to understand the interaction of TRU waste and the disposal environment, transport of radioactive actinides, and performance assessment modeling of the repository for the 10,000-year regulatory time frame. All these activities were conducted under the Quality Assurance program developed by Sandia to meet the strict requirements of the EPA and yet be practical and efficacious in its application. Since WIPP has become operational, Sandia is focusing more effort, through its National Transuranic Program (NPT), on helping DOE meet its disposal goals and optimization of the transuranic waste system logistics.
Sandia expertise in repository science include:
Point of Contact:
David S. Kessel,
Carlsbad Programs Group
(505) 284-5361