WIPP Regulatory Compliance - Keeping the Gate Open - 10435

Keeping the gate open at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) facility requires an integrated regulatory overview of ongoing operations and proposed activities, each of which can impact a complex array of programmatic requirements from the regulatory agencies. Major accomplishments in three main regulatory program areas - Compliance Certification for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Hazardous Waste Facility Permit Compliance for the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) Hazardous Waste Bureau, and the approval of transportation packages by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for waste shipments between waste generator sites to the WIPP facility will be discussed in this paper and poster session. Regulatory compliance accomplishments in and across these three program areas have resulted in process improvements both at the WIPP facility and at transuranic (TRU) waste generator sites throughout the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) complex.