THE WAST ISOLATION PLANT: THE WORLDS FIRST OPERATING DEEP GEOLOGICAL REPOSITORY FOR LONG-LIVE RADIOACTIVE WASTE

This paper provides a concise historical overview of and status report on the world's first specially sited, designed and constructed deep geological repository for safe disposal of long-lived transuranic radioactive waste (TRUW) at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) site in New Mexico, United States of America (USA) (Figure 1). The WIPP TRUW repository was certified by the United States (U.S.) Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the 13th of May 1998 and opened on the 26th of march 1999, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has disposed of TRUW from three generator/storage sites, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL), and the Rocky Flats Environmental Test Site (RFETS) at the WIPP site.