The Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) is not approved for shipping transuranic (TRU)  waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant  (WIPP) although the TRU Waste Processing Facility is now under contract.  Much further delay in shipping approval will result in the increased cost of this and related ORR projects.  The following is information pertinent to the disposal of TRU Waste:

1) WIPP is now receiving contact handled TRU waste but the WIPP program for remote handled  (RH) TRU waste is not mature. Since the plan is to insert the RH waste into the repository walls and to place contact handled (CH)  waste in front of it, the current schedule reduces the wall space available for RH TRU waste. If there is sufficient delay in starting the RH program, this may seriously limit the ability of the WIPP to accept the ORR RH waste and interfere with the shipping schedule of the ORR TRU facility to begin in 2003.

2) The ORR TRU processing facility program is making excellent progress but the lack of timely completion of the RH TRU Program will impede processing in 2003 and may well require changing the packaging specification for the RH waste.

3) If, due to a lack of shipping, packaged TRU wastes must be stored at ORR starting in 2003, there will be an associated storage cost to construct above ground storage, as the ORR geology does not favor subsurface or long-term storage.

4) There is a limited amount of TRU waste buried in otherwise LLW disposal areas at ORNL. The State regulators have stated their desire to have this removed and processed as TRU waste. Failure to have a firm and timely shipping plan in place to ship this waste stream can cause delays, storage costs and double handling costs. It may also delay the remediation of these disposal areas.

5) There is an increasing credibility gap being opened between DOE and stakeholders as plans and performance are delayed by incomplete final steps. We appear to be headed for the same but more costly situation as in the past: permanent, temporary local storage under unfavorable circumstances.

To insure timely processing of the ORR TRU waste, the WIPP RH TRU waste program should be brought to maturity as soon as is feasible and before 2003 when ORR plans to ship.

Contact Persons:

Mr. James Owendoff, Acting Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management,
       U. S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Ave. S. W., Washington, DC 20585
Cc: Mr. Rod Nelson, DOE/ORO/EM, 55 Jefferson Ave., Oak Ridge, TN 37830
Cc: Ms Jeanne Wilson 2362 RHOB, US House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515