Nuclear Transparency at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP)

Globally, the infrastructure necessary for transparent management of storage and disposal of nuclear materials is lacking. There is a compelling need for technical and political investment to provide permanent disposition of nuclear material streams at the back end of the nuclear fuel cycles. Disposition of these materials in a safe and transparent manner will directly contribute to resolving nuclear issues in safety and nonproliferation. It will also promote management of the nuclear fuel cycle’s back end as a path forward to the front end of future nuclear energy policy.
The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) represents the world’s only certified, operating geologic repository for disposal of nuclear materials. The facility offers a unique opportunity for developing models of nuclear transparency in the back end of the nuclear cycle by providing a functioning facility for technology development and demonstration.
Transparency work at WIPP could cooperate with activities at other U.S. nuclear waste storage sites and foreign organizations with similar goals.  A long-range program to establish an international foundation for nuclear material transparency in the back end can offer a broad range of monitoring and technology development opportunities.

Underground at WIPP, 655 meters below the surface, this tunnel will be filled with drums of nuclear waste.