AIKEN, S.C. — In spring of 2022, employees with a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) team saw the final shipment of a specific type of container holding transuranic waste leave the Savannah River Site in a TRUPACT-III shipping package en route to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) for permanent emplacement.
Now, the equipment used to load those containers, called Standard Large Box 2, into TRUPACT-III shipping packages is finding a new home at EM’s Idaho Cleanup Project (ICP) at the Idaho National Laboratory Site. TRUPACT stands for Transuranic Package Transporter.
This collaboration enabling beneficial reuse of equipment from one cleanup site to another shows how EM drives efficiency, focusing on priorities and reining in costs without sacrificing safety or effectiveness.
“This is a win-win for EM sites,” said Kerri Crawford, Solid Waste Programs manager with EM contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS). “This transfer of equipment highlights how EM works to share resources and collaborate as an integrated organization. We are always looking for ways to be the best stewards we can with the resources we have.”
Crawford noted that most DOE sites use TRUPACT-IIs to ship their transuranic waste to WIPP.
“Until this point, SRS was the only site utilizing TRUPACT-IIIs, which are bigger than TRUPACT-IIs and allow for a larger transuranic waste container to be shipped,” she said.
EM and SRNS have made progress in transuranic waste shipments to WIPP and no longer need to use the bigger casks, Crawford said.
“So we offered the special loading equipment to other DOE sites for their use,” she said.
TRUPACT-IIIs weigh approximately 50,000 pounds and are used to ship radioactive boxes. In order to load and transfer the containers to a truck for shipment, specialized loading equipment needed to be created, both for lifting the boxes and to maintain shielding for the workers. The equipment SRS transferred to ICP included hoists, support beams, lifting fixtures and a control board.
“SRS completed a total of 239 shipments using this equipment since initial startup in 2011,” said Crawford.
ICP will benefit from the addition of the SRS equipment.
“As the largest volume shipper of transuranic waste to WIPP, this equipment, once it is placed into service, will give us an additional capability to remove waste from Idaho,” said Mark Henderson, Production Planning manager for Idaho Environmental Coalition, ICP’s cleanup contractor.
Transuranic waste typically consists of protective clothing, tools, rags, equipment and miscellaneous items contaminated with small amounts of plutonium and other heavy elements.
WIPP is the only geological repository in the country that safely and permanently disposes of the nation’s defense-related transuranic waste. EM established the National TRU Program to oversee the process of preparing transuranic waste from DOE waste generator sites to meet WIPP requirements and provides guidance and requirements for receiving the waste at WIPP. This process involves the characterization and packaging of the waste at the generator sites, followed by the transportation of the waste to the WIPP facility, which is 26 miles southeast of Carlsbad, New Mexico.
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