Sandia National Laboratories

Vol. 51, No. 7

April 9, 1999

Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185-0165 || Livermore, California 94550-0969
Tonopah, Nevada; Nevada Test Site; Amarillo, Texas

A WIPP Portfolio:

The Waste Isolation Pilot Project as seen through the lens of Lab News photographer Randy Montoya

Photos by Randy Montoya

Go back to the main WIPP story

WELCOME WASTE -- Sandia Senior Fellow Wendell Weart examines a chunk of salt at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). On March 26, 1999, WIPP's first waste was carried down this access drift and emplaced in the back corner of Panel 1, Room 1, signifying operation of the world's first deep underground repository for radioactive waste. (Photograph by Randy Montoya) Click photo to download 150 dpi jpeg file.

EACH WASTE SHIPMENT arrives packed inside TRUPACT-II containers, tested extensively at Sandia. (Photograph by Randy Montoya) Click photo to download 150 dpi jpeg file.

GOING DOWN? -- (From left) Sandians Cliff Howard , Susan Pickering, and Wendell Weart take the bumpy, five-minute ride to the repository floor 2,150 feet below the surface aboard WIPP's personnel elevator. (Photograph by Randy Montoya) Click photo to download 150 dpi jpeg file.

LARGE CHUNKS OF TRANSLUCENT SALT can be found along the edges of WIPP's drifts. (Photograph by Randy Montoya) Click photo to download 150 dpi jpeg file.

BRING YOUR OWN LIGHT -- Workers beat back the blackness in WIPP's darkened corridors with head lamps and headlights on the golf-cart-like vehicles they ride. (Photograph by Randy Montoya) Click photo to download 150 dpi jpeg file.

SALT HEALING -- Sandian Cliff Howard examines bolts and steel netting installed on many of the repository's walls, a safety precaution to catch possible falling debris as the salt walls slowly close in on mined rooms - a natural, expected process called room closure. (Photograph by Randy Montoya) Click photo to download 150 dpi jpeg file.

Last modified: April 7, 1999

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	WELCOME WASTE -- Sandia Senior Fellow Wendell Weart examines a chunk of salt at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). On March 26, 1999, WIPP's first waste was carried down this access drift and emplaced in the back corner of Panel 1, Room 1, signifying operation of the world's first deep underground repository for radioactive waste. (Photograph by Randy Montoya) Click photo to download 150 dpi jpeg file.
	EACH WASTE SHIPMENT arrives packed inside TRUPACT-II containers, tested extensively at Sandia. (Photograph by Randy Montoya) Click photo to download 150 dpi jpeg file.
	GOING DOWN? -- (From left) Sandians Cliff Howard , Susan Pickering, and Wendell Weart take the bumpy, five-minute ride to the repository floor 2,150 feet below the surface aboard WIPP's personnel elevator. (Photograph by Randy Montoya) Click photo to download 150 dpi jpeg file.
	LARGE CHUNKS OF TRANSLUCENT SALT can be found along the edges of WIPP's drifts. (Photograph by Randy Montoya) Click photo to download 150 dpi jpeg file.
	BRING YOUR OWN LIGHT -- Workers beat back the blackness in WIPP's darkened corridors with head lamps and headlights on the golf-cart-like vehicles they ride. (Photograph by Randy Montoya) Click photo to download 150 dpi jpeg file.
	SALT HEALING -- Sandian Cliff Howard examines bolts and steel netting installed on many of the repository's walls, a safety precaution to catch possible falling debris as the salt walls slowly close in on mined rooms - a natural, expected process called room closure. (Photograph by Randy Montoya) Click photo to download 150 dpi jpeg file.