The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) disposes of plutonium-contaminated debris from its 27 nuclear weapons facilities at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), an underground repository in Carlsbad, New Mexico. After four years of operational experience, DOE has opportunities to make changes to the costly and time-consuming process of "characterizing" the waste to confirm that it is appropriate for shipment to and disposal at WIPP.  The report says that in order to make such changes, DOE should conduct and publish a systematic and quantitative assessment to show that the proposed changes would not affect the protection of workers, the public, or the environment.

Characterization, packaging, transport, handling and disposal of remotely handled transuranic (RH TRU) waste at WIPP will be different than similar operations with contact handled transuranic (CH TRU) waste. This paper presents results of technical evaluations associated with the planned disposal of remotely handled transuranic waste at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP).

This report contains the results of a peer review performed jointly by the ASME and the Institute for Regulatory Science(RSI).This report, conducted for the U.S. Department of Energy's Carlsbad Operations Office, explores the criteria for disposing of remote-handled transuranic waste at the Carlsbad waste isolation site.