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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Disposal of Surplus Plutonium at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: Interim Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25272.
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Disposal of Surplus Plutonium at the
Waste Isolation Pilot Plant

Interim Report

Committee on Disposal of Surplus Plutonium at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant

Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board

Division on Earth and Life Studies

A Consensus Study Report of

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THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, DC
www.nap.edu

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Disposal of Surplus Plutonium at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: Interim Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25272.
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THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS 500 Fifth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001

This activity was supported by Contract No. DE-EP0000026/DE-DT0013548 between the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration and the National Academy of Sciences. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of any organization or agency that provided support for the project.

International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-48500-5
International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-48500-2
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Suggested citation: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Disposal of Surplus Plutonium at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: Interim Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: https://doi.org/10.17226/25272.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Disposal of Surplus Plutonium at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: Interim Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25272.
×

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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Disposal of Surplus Plutonium at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: Interim Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25272.
×

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Consensus Study Reports published by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine document the evidence-based consensus on the study’s statement of task by an authoring committee of experts. Reports typically include findings, conclusions, and recommendations based on information gathered by the committee and the committee’s deliberations. Each report has been subjected to a rigorous and independent peer-review process and it represents the position of the National Academies on the statement of task.

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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Disposal of Surplus Plutonium at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: Interim Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25272.
×

COMMITTEE ON DISPOSAL OF SURPLUS PLUTONIUM AT THE WASTE ISOLATION PILOT PLANT

ROBERT C. DYNES (Chair), University of California, San Diego, La Jolla

LISA M. BENDIXEN, ICF, Fairfax, Virginia

MICHAEL S. BRONZINI, George Mason University (emeritus), Mount Juliet, Tennessee

GEORGE E. DIALS, Pajarito Scientific Corporation (retired), Santa Fe, New Mexico1

LEONARD W. GRAY, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (retired), Brentwood, California

MICHAEL R. GREENBERG, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey

DAVID W. JOHNSON, JR., Journal of the American Ceramic Society (retired), Bell Laboratories (retired), Bedminster, New Jersey

ANNIE B. KERSTING, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California

M. DAVID MALONEY, Jacobs Engineering Group (emeritus), Denver, Colorado

S. ANDREW ORRELL, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria

WILLIAM C. OSTENDORFF, U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland

TAMMY C. OTTMER, Colorado State Patrol, Golden

CECIL V. PARKS, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

MATTHEW K. SILVA, Environmental Evaluation Group (retired), Albuquerque, New Mexico

Staff

JENNIFER HEIMBERG, Senior Program Officer

RICHARD ROWBERG, Senior Advisor

TONI GREENLEAF, Administrative and Financial Associate

DARLENE GROS, Senior Program Assistant

KEVIN D. CROWLEY, Technical Editor

REBECCA MORGAN, Senior Librarian

___________________

1 Resigned from the committee on September 20, 2018.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Disposal of Surplus Plutonium at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: Interim Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25272.
×

NUCLEAR AND RADIATION STUDIES BOARD

GEORGE APOSTOLAKIS (Chair), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (emeritus), Los Angeles, California

JAMES A. BRINK (Vice Chair), Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston

STEVEN M. BECKER, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia

AMY BERRINGTON DE GONZÁLEZ, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland

DAVID J. BRENNER, Columbia University, New York, New York

MARGARET S.Y. CHU, M.S. Chu & Associates, LLC, New York, New York

TISSA H. ILLANGASEKARE, Colorado School of Mines, Golden

CAROL M. JANTZEN, Savannah River National Laboratory, Aiken, South Carolina

NANCY JO NICHOLAS, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico

HENRY D. ROYAL, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri

DANIEL O. STRAM, University of Southern California, Los Angeles

WILLIAM H. TOBEY, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts

SERGEY V. YUDINTSEV, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow

Staff

CHARLES D. FERGUSON, Director

JENNIFER HEIMBERG, Senior Program Officer

OURANIA KOSTI, Senior Program Officer

TONI GREENLEAF, Administrative and Financial Associate

LAURA D. LLANOS, Administrative and Financial Associate

DARLENE GROS, Senior Program Assistant

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Disposal of Surplus Plutonium at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: Interim Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25272.
×

Acknowledgments

A number of people and organizations contributed to the successful completion of this report. The committee wishes to thank the study sponsor, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), for supporting this project, and especially the following staff: William Kilmartin, Lyndsey Adams, Sachiko McAlhany, Virginia Kay, and Peter Hanlon. The committee also extends its thanks to Betsy Forinash, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, and Todd Shrader, DOE’s Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO).

The committee also thanks the presenters and speakers who gave high-quality presentations during the public meetings as listed in Appendix B. In particular, the committee is thankful for the assistance provided for site visits and tours by the following individuals: Richard V. Lee, Jr., State of South Carolina Governor’s Nuclear Advisory Council, for hosting a public session at the South Carolina State House in Columbia; Thomas Canty, Savannah River Site (SRS), for planning and coordinating the committee’s site visit and tours at SRS, South Carolina; William Goodrum, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), for planning and coordinating the committee’s visit and tour at LANL, New Mexico; and Todd Shrader, CBFO manager, and George Basabilvazo, CBFO chief scientist, for planning and organizaing the committee’s visit and tour at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant and the public session in Carlsbad, New Mexico.

In addition, the committee is grateful for submitted public comments, which were useful in helping the committee better understand the public’s concerns and views.

The committee is grateful for the outstanding assistance provided by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine staff in preparing the report especially Toni Greenleaf, financial associate, for her assistance; Darlene Gros, senior program assistant, for logistical planning for all of the committee’s meetings and project administration; Richard Rowberg, senior advisor, for his guidance and his participation in the classified meetings and tour; Kevin Crowley, technical editor, for his work negotiating and designing the study with DOE and for editing an early version of the interim report; and Jenny Heimberg, study director, for managing the study.

The chair is especially thankful for the opportunity to lead this distinguished committee. He would like to thank the members of the committee for their dedication, willingness to teach and to learn, and for their time and energy.

Page viii Cite
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Disposal of Surplus Plutonium at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: Interim Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25272.
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Reviewer Acknowledgments

This Consensus Study Report was reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in making each published report as sound as possible and to ensure that it meets the institutional standards for quality, objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process.

We thank the following individuals for their review of this report:

Mark D. Abkowitz, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee

Lake H. Barrett, independent consultant, Venice, Florida

Craig H. Benson, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia

Matthew G. Bunn, Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Rodney C. Ewing, Stanford University, Stanford, California

Christine M. Gelles, Longenecker and Associates, Las Vegas, Nevada

Lindsay A. Lovejoy, Jr., attorney, Santa Fe, New Mexico

William H. Tobey, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Although the reviewers listed above provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations of this report nor did they see the final draft before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Carloyn Huntoon, Consultant, Retired U.S. Government, and Chris Whipple, ENVIRON (Retired). They were responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with the standards of the National Academies and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content rests entirely with the authoring committee and the National Academies.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Disposal of Surplus Plutonium at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: Interim Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25272.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Disposal of Surplus Plutonium at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: Interim Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25272.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Disposal of Surplus Plutonium at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: Interim Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25272.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Disposal of Surplus Plutonium at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: Interim Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25272.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Disposal of Surplus Plutonium at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: Interim Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25272.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Disposal of Surplus Plutonium at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: Interim Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25272.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Disposal of Surplus Plutonium at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: Interim Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25272.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Disposal of Surplus Plutonium at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: Interim Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25272.
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Page viii Cite
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Disposal of Surplus Plutonium at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: Interim Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25272.
×
Page R8
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Disposal of Surplus Plutonium at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: Interim Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25272.
×
Page R9
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Disposal of Surplus Plutonium at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: Interim Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25272.
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Page R10
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Disposal of Surplus Plutonium at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: Interim Report evaluates the general viability of the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration's (DOE-NNSA's) conceptual plans for disposing of 34 metric tons (MT) of surplus plutonium in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), a deep geologic repository near Carlsbad, New Mexico. This report evaluates DOE-NNSA's plans to ship, receive, and emplace surplus plutonium in WIPP and its understanding of the impacts of these plans on WIPP and WIPP-bound waste streams. This report, the first of two to be issued during this study, provides a preliminary assessment of the general viability of DOE-NNSA's conceptual plans, focusing on some of the barriers to their implementation.

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