WIPP marks pivotal milestone by completing construction of ventilation system

CARLSBAD, N.M. — The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM) has achieved a significant milestone by completing construction of the Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System (SSCVS) facility — a new, state-of-the-art, large-scale ventilation system at its Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP).

This milestone marks the delivery of the SSCVS facilities and systems necessary to move forward with the full testing and commissioning phase to bring the facility online and operational in 2026.

“Finishing the Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System construction phase marks a momentous investment in WIPP’s operational infrastructure,” said Mark Bollinger, EM’s Carlsbad Field Office manager. “When fully online, the SSCVS will greatly increase the quality of airflow to the underground repository and enhance WIPP’s ability to reliably deliver on DOE’s national security and environmental cleanup missions.”

Salado Isolation Mining Contractors (SIMCO), WIPP’s management and operations contractor, began SSCVS commissioning phase work in early fall 2023 as construction crews began turning over initial portions of the facility and systems to startup and commissioning teams.

“Completing SSCVS construction allows us to pivot our focus to testing and commissioning the remaining SSCVS systems,” said Ken Harrawood, SIMCO’s president and program manager at WIPP. “We will take a measured and methodical — people, plant, paper — approach to safely bring the SSCVS fully online.”

Testing and commissioning includes testing systems, integration, developing operational procedures and guidelines, training and qualifying staff. After all testing is completed, the facility is handed over to trained WIPP operations personnel to bring the new facility online. The SSCVS commissioning phase is currently 85% complete.

When fully online, the SSCVS facility will significantly increase airflow through the WIPP underground. Air exiting the underground will be able to pass through a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filtration system made up of 22 filtration units.

The SSCVS will work in tandem with WIPP’s new utility shaft, which will provide a new entry point for air into the WIPP underground repository. The SSCVS pulls air through the repository, removes salt and can send the air through the HEPA filtration units before it’s released to the environment. When fully online, the new ventilation will increase underground airflow from 170,000 cubic feet per minute up to 540,000 cubic feet per minute.

The SSCVS includes two primary buildings. The Salt Reduction Building pre-filters salt-laden air coming from the WIPP underground, while the New Filter Building has fans and HEPA filtration to further clean the air.

About WIPP

WIPP remains the United States’ only deep geological repository for nuclear waste. It’s a system of disposal rooms mined out of an ancient salt bed 2,150 feet underground. It has operated since 1999, celebrating its 25th anniversary of accepting transuranic waste from DOE cleanup sites across the U.S. The waste consists of items contaminated with small amounts of plutonium and other human-made radioactive elements. The waste has been accumulating since the 1940s as part of the nation’s nuclear defense program dating back to the Manhattan Project.

About SIMCO

Salado Isolation Mining Contractors, LLC (SIMCO) was formed to support the mission of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.
SIMCO’s member is Bechtel National Inc. and its WIPP team includes Los Alamos Technical Associates as a New Mexico based teaming subcontractor.