Shipping Remote Handled Transuranic Waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant - An Operational Experience

On January 18, 2007, the first ever shipment of Remote Handled Transuranic (RH TRU) waste left the gate at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), headed toward the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) for disposal, thus concluding one of the most stressful, yet rewarding, periods the authors have ever experienced. The race began in earnest on October 16, 2006, with signature of the New Mexico Environment Department Secretary's Final Order, ruling that the '..draft permit as changed is hereby approved in its entirety.' This established the effective date of the approved permit as November 16, 2006. The permit modification was a consolidation of several Class 3 modification requests, one of which included incorporation of RH TRU requirements and another of which incorporated the requirements of Section 311 of Public Law 108-137. The obvious goal was to complete the first shipment by November 17. While many had anticipated its approval, the time had finally come to actually implement, and time seemed to be the main item lacking. At that point, even the most aggressive schedule that could be seriously documented showed a first ship date in March 2007. Even though planning for this eventuality had started in May 2005 with the arrivalmore » of the current Idaho Cleanup Project (ICP) contractor (and even before that), there were many facility and system modifications to complete, startup authorizations to fulfill, and many regulatory audits and approvals to obtain before the first drum could be loaded. Through the dedicated efforts of the ICP workers, the partnership with Department of Energy (DOE) - Idaho, the coordinated integration with the Central Characterization Project (CCP), the flexibility and understanding of the regulatory community, and the added encouragement of DOE - Carlsbad Field Office and at Headquarters, the first RH TRU canister was loaded on December 22, 2006. Following final regulatory approval on January 17, 2007, the historic event finally occurred the following day. While some of the success of this endeavor can be attributed to the sheer will and determination of the individuals involved, the fact that it was established and managed as a separate sub-project under the ICP, accounts for a majority of the success. Utilizing a structured project management approach, including development of, and management to, a performance baseline, allowed for timely decision making and the flexibility to adapt to changing conditions as the various aspects of the project matured. This paper provides some insight into how this was achieved, in a relatively short time, and provides an overview of the experience of start-up of a new retrieval, characterization, loading, and transportation operation in the midst of an aggressive cleanup project. Additionally, as one might expect, everything within the project did not go as planned, which provides a great opportunity to discuss some lessons learned. Finally, the first shipment was just the beginning. There are 224 additional shipments scheduled. In keeping with the theme of WM 2008, Phoenix Rising: Moving Forward in Waste Management, this paper will address the future opportunities and challenges of RH TRU waste management at the INL. (authors)« less