Remote-Handled Transuranic Waste
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History
Los Alamos National Laboratory has been storing canisters of remote-handled transuranic waste (RH-TRU) in special vertical shafts since the mid-1990s.
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Radiation Readings
As a crane lifts the RH-TRU canister, workers take careful radiation readings.
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Canisters
Each canister weighs about 3,000 pounds and contains three, 55-gallon drums of plastics, tools, rags, and glassware used for weapons research.
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Canister Loading
The canister is positioned above the waiting shipping cask, which is tilted vertically for loading.
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Shipping Casks
The canister is carefully lowered into the steel and lead-lined shipping cask. Two lids are bolted on the cask.
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Canister Protection
Impact limiters are added to each end. They protect the cask by absorbing impacts, such as from a traffic accident.
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Canister Shipment
At 4:59 p.m. on June 2, 2009, the Laboratory's first shipment of RH-TRU left for the WIPP repository in Carlsbad, NM.
About Remote-handled TRU Waste
Since 1995, Los Alamos National Laboratory has had 16 canisters of remote-handled transuranic waste (RH-TRU) stored in vertical concrete shafts.
The canisters each contain three, 55-gallon drums of tools, plastic, glassware, and rags used in hot cells during weapons research and production at the Laboratory’s Chemistry and Metallurgy Research building during the 1960s and 1970s.
By law, the canisters must be sent for final disposal to the underground Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) repository near Carlsbad, New Mexico.
On June 2nd, 2009, the Laboratory's first shipment of RH-TRU left for WIPP in a special, lead-lined shipping cask. On July 2nd, exactly one month later, the Laboratory shipped its 16th and final cask.
The shipments are a key milestone in the Lab’s efforts to close Material Disposal Area G—the Lab’s primary waste storage area.
News Releases
- 7/6/2009
Final remote-handled waste canister leaves Los Alamos National Laboratory - 6/3/2009
Milestone reached: First shipment of remote-handled TRU waste leaves Los Alamos - 6/2/2009
Milestone Reached: Waste Shipment Leaves Los Alamos National Laboratory - 10/17/2006
Lab readies for remote-handled transuranic waste shipments
