The Chicago Tribune and numerous other publications reported that today marked the 20th anniversary of WIPP… also known as the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, NM.

“WIPP was constructed for disposal of defense-generated TRU waste from DOE sites around the country. TRU waste consists of clothing, tools, rags, residues, debris, soil and other items contaminated with small amounts of plutonium and other man-made radioactive elements. The waste is permanently disposed of in rooms mined in an underground salt bed layer over 2000 feet from the surface.”

Most of this TRU waste was generated from the Cold War production of nuclear bomb materials. Although controversial to this day, WIPP has afforded the US government with a secure, safe place to house DOE/DOD TRU waste.

While WIPP does not hold the “extra-crispy” high level radioactive waste that currently resides at many DOE sites, many of these materials and their isotopes will remain hazardous for a long time.

Some H-Bomb test & reactor-borne isotopes, their radioactive half-lives & radioactive emissions

“In the far-distant future, all the long-lived radioactive material, even that now stored and trapped, will mix with the biosphere unless each generation repackages it.”
–Dr. Rosalie Bertell, No Immediate Danger.

Radiation is insidious, because it cannot be detected by the senses. We are not biologically equipped to feel its power, or see, hear, touch or smell it. Yet gamma radiation can penetrate our bodies if we are exposed to radioactive substances.

M2 Polymer Technologies provides super absorbent polymer solutions for low-level radioactive waste stabilization. Contact us to learn more.