Publications

Engineers have learned to design and build big projects, which certainly describes the WIPP project, but also includes defense projects, highway networks, space exploration, the Internet, etc., through what has been called a messily complex embracing of contradictions. When something massive and complicated has to be built these days, it leads to a protracted political process in which every special interest makes a stand, lobbyists exert what influence they can, lawmakers bicker, contractors change things, Congress struggles with costs, environmentalists hold things up--and this is good. It may seem amazing that anything gets done, but when it does, everyone has had their say. It's an intensely democratic, even if expensive and time-consuming, process. The corporate historian of Sandia National Laboratories presents a unique background of the WIPP project and Sandia's part in it.

On Nov. 1, 1999, Sandia National Laboratories celebrates its 50th birthday. Although Sandia has its roots in the World War II-era Manhattan Project, Sandia began operating as a separate nuclear weapons engineering laboratory under the management of AT&T on Nov. 1, 1949. Today the lab employs more than 7,000 people at its two sites in Albuquerque and Livermore, California, and has research and development missions in national security, energy and environmental technologies, and U.S. economic competitiveness. Lockheed Martin Corporation operates Sandia for the US. Department of Energy.

Even prior to the beginning of the nuclear age, the packaging and transportation of nuclear materials was a prime national concern. Nuclear materials such as uranium and plutonium had to be transported safely (and secretly) to the Manhattan Engineer District Laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico. The subsequent post war use of nuclear power for the generation of electricity and accelerated weapons development programs resulted in radioactive waste byproducts, such as spent fuel and plutonium, that were stored on site at utilities and federal weapons sites. While projected repositories for long term storage of radioactive waste are being planned, both low and high level radioactive materials on occasion must be moved safely. Movement to interim storage and, for low level waste, repository sites, is accomplished by a combination of truck, rail, ship, and air. The US Department of Energy (DOE) directs transportation activities including cask development technology for use in single or multimodal (a combination of land, water, and air) transport. In 1978, Sandia National Laboratories was selected as the lead contractor for basic transportation technology. This report is divided into the following topics: (1) early research and development (1936--1978); (2) radioactive material package test (1975--1977); (3) the SNL Transportation Technology Center; (4) TRUPACT-II; (5) beneficial uses of shipping system casks; (6) C-141B drop tests; (7) MIDAS; (8) MOSAIK; (9) SEARAM; (10) PATRAM; and (11) a chronology of transportation activities.

Industrial and military activities in the US produce large amounts of hazardous mixed waste, which includes both radioactive and toxic substances. The already overburdened environment is faced with the task of safely disposing of these complex wastes. A very important aspect of this effort is the safe and economical transportation of radioactive and toxic chemical wastes to projected repositories. Movement of wastes to the repository sites is accomplished by a combination of truck, rail, ship, and air. The DOE directs transportation activities including cask development technology for use in single or multimode transport. Sandia National Laboratories` Transportation Technology programs provide the technology and know-how to support DOE in achieving safe, efficient, and economical packaging and transportation of nuclear and other hazardous waste materials. This brochure describes the Transportation Technology programs and the specialized techniques and capabilities they offer to prospective users.