| Mining | ||
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| WIPP mining crews excavate disposal rooms for transuranic (TRU) radioactive waste, 2,150 feet underground in an ancient salt formation. There are seven disposal rooms in each disposal panel. A disposal room is approximately 300 feet in length, 33 feet wide and 13 feet high. |
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| Contact-Handled TRU (CH TRU) Waste Handling and Disposal Process TRUPACT-II and HalfPACT |
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 A WIPP truck approaches the WIPP facility. On the trailer are TRUPACT-II shipping packages with CH TRU waste containers inside. |
 At WIPP, personnel inspect the trailer and shipping packages after they are unhooked from the tractor. |
 A TRUPACT-II is transported to the CH Waste Handling Building, where crews remove the waste containers. |
 The TRUPACT-II outer lid is lifted by overhead crane. |
 CH TRU waste containers are removed from the TRUPACT-II. |
 The waste containers are loaded onto a hoist and transported 2,150 feet underground. |
 Underground, waste handling crews transport the waste from a hoist to a disposal room. |
 CH TRU waste containers are off-loaded in the disposal room. |
 CH TRU waste is stacked in columns for final disposal. |
| TRUPACT-III | ||
 The TRUPACT-III shipping package was designed to transport Standard Large Box-2 (SLB2) waste containers. |
 At WIPP, the TRUPACT-III is off-loaded from the trailer and taken to a room in the CH Waste Building. |
 Waste handling personnel remove the SLB2 from the TRUPACT-III shipping package. |
 The SLB2 is transported underground on a hoist. It is transferred to an underground transporter that moves it to a disposal room. |
 A forklift is used to offload the SLB2 from the transporter. |
 The SLB2 is placed on the floor of the disposal room alongside other TRU waste containers. |
| Remote-Handled TRU (RH TRU) Waste Handling and Disposal Process | ||
 A WIPP truck hauling RH TRU waste arrives in an RH-72B shipping package at WIPP. |
 A waste handling technician prepares the shipping package for transport to a staging platform in the RH Waste Handling Bay. |
 On the staging platform, waste handling crews remove the outer lid of the RH-72B shipping package. |
 The 72B shipping package is lowered into the transfer cell, where the inner lid is removed. |
 A grapple hoist lifts the RH TRU waste disposal canister from the transfer cell into the facility cask. |
 The facility cask is loaded onto a hoist for transport to the underground. |
 In the disposal room, the facility cask is loaded onto an emplacement machine that will insert the canister into a pre-drilled borehole in the wall. |
 A hydraulic ram pushes the disposal canister into the borehole, followed by a five-foot concrete shield plug. |
 A radiological technician surveys CH TRU waste in the disposal room. RH waste has been disposed of in the borehole behind him. |