Los Alamos Checks Off EM 2024 Priority with Corrugated Metal Pipe Size Reduction
Environmental Management Los Alamos Field Office team members are pictured in front of the 158th and final corrugated metal pipe before it is segmented.
LOS ALAMOS, N.M. — Size-reduction activities have wrapped up for 158 corrugated metal pipes (CMPs) containing legacy cemented transuranic waste at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL).
Last week, LANL legacy cleanup contractor Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos (N3B) finished reducing the size of 158 CMPs. Each CMP was cut into five sections, and then each section was loaded into a standard waste box for shipment to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM) Waste Isolation Pilot Plant for disposal. Shipments are expected to begin in late 2025. Each CMP measured approximately 20 feet long and weighed between 10,000 and 14,000 pounds.
“This project marks the first time N3B has successfully addressed buried waste on this scale at LANL,” N3B President and General Manager Brad Smith said. “I want to thank all those across N3B who played a role in our ability to safely carry out and complete this project. We’ll take the lessons we learned on the CMP project to further aid our efforts to address legacy radioactive and other wastes at LANL.”
A corrugated metal pipe section is lifted with a gantry crane for placement into a standard waste box. Once loaded, the standard waste box is transferred to another room where it is decontaminated before it is moved outside of the PermaCon for interim storage, waste certification and shipment to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.
Team members watch the corrugated metal pipe segmentation process safely outside the PermaCon, protected from any contamination.
The CMPs contained cemented radioactive liquid waste that originated from a former LANL radioactive liquid waste treatment facility that operated during the Cold War era at Technical Area 21 (TA-21). They were buried at TA-54, Area G, in 1986 for future retrieval. Retrieval activities began in the fall of 2022 and were completed earlier this year.
Size-reduction activities commenced in the summer of 2023. Each CMP was brought into a facility called Dome 375. This facility was designed to prevent the release of contamination from the cutting into the environment. Inside a permanent containment unit nested within Dome 375, workers cut the CMPs into sections using a hydraulic shear that was equipped with its own exhaust ventilation to reduce dust creation and support worker safety. Significant safety planning and practice evolutions were performed before workers began size-reduction activities.
“I want to congratulate N3B on this accomplishment. CMPs are a key project for the EM Los Alamos Field Office (EM-LA) and are a DOE EM priority goal,” said Jessica Kunkle, EM-LA manager. “The safe and successful retrieval and size-reduction of the CMPs is a significant step forward for the LANL legacy cleanup mission and adds to the growing progress we continue to make in reducing legacy waste inventories.”