Repository WIPP—bedded salt

WIPP A Bedded Salt Repository for Defense Radioactive Waste in Southeastern New Mexico... 

Defense transuranic waste sent to the WIPP facility is emplaced in a bedded-salt formation located far below ground. Thus, the WIPP facility is similar to a geologic repository for spent fuel and high-level waste in its expected waste-isolation capabilities. 

The underground WIPP repository is located in the southeastern part of the State of New Mexico, 41.84 km southeast of the city of Carlsbad. The site selected for WIPP is a 25.75 km tract of federal land. The WIPP repository is located 655 m below the surface in a bedded salt formation of Permian age known as the Salado Formation. The U.S. Congress authorized the development of WIPP in 1979 to demonstrate the safe disposal of radioactive waste resulting from defense programs of the United States, including weapons production and research and development. The WIPP is authorized for the disposal of 175,500 m of defense-related TRU wastes (Public Law 102-579, as amended by Public Law 104-201) and has an operational life of 35 years (until 2033). 

In 1999 the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico began receiving nuclear waste. This facility employs tunnels carved into the salt beds of an ancient ocean. Once a repository room becomes full, the salt will collapse around the waste, encapsulating it forever. 

Underground excavation of fhe WIPP repository in the Salado formation salt beds began in the early 1980s. During siting and initial excavation activities, four shafts were drilled as discussed below. 

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