PREPARATION OF THE FIRST SHIPMENTS OF TRANSURANIC WASTE BY THE LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY: A REST STOP ON THE ROAD TO THE WIPP

The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) achieved a national milestone on the road to shipping transuranic (TRU) waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) when it received certification authority on September 12, 1997. Since that time, LANL has been characterizing a non-mixed TRU waste stream and preparing shipments of this TRU waste for disposal in the WIPP. The paper describes the TRU waste identified as waste stream TA-55-43 Lot No. 01 from LANL Technical Area-55 and the process used to determine that it does not contain hazardous waste regulated by the Resource Conservation Recovery Act (RCRA) or the New Mexico Hazardous Waste Act (HWA). The non-mixed determination is based on the acceptable knowledge (AK) characterization process, which clearly shows that the waste does not exhibit any RCRA characteristics nor meet any RCRA listing descriptions. LANL has certified TRU waste from waste stream TA-55-43 Lot No. 01 and is prepared to certify additional quantities of TRU waste from other non-mixed TRU waste streams. Assembly and preparation of AK on the processes that generated TRU waste is recognized as a necessary part of the process for having waste ready for shipment to the WIPP