Los Alamos Shipments to WIPP Held Up Temporarily Over Combustion Risk

摘要

A risk of combustion linked to calcium prompted suspension in November of transuranic waste shipments from the U.S.Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant further south in New Mexico,according to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB).Workers discovered calcium metal in certain transuranic material that can ignite under some conditions. Risk ofcombustion means the shipments would not pass muster with WIPP’s waste acceptance criteria, according to a residentinspectors' memo to DNFSB Technical Director Christopher Roscetti.