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Workers Make Headway on New System to Increase WIPP Airflow

Progress continues on a new $135 million ventilation system at EM’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP).

Office of Environmental Management

April 23, 2019

CARLSBAD, N.M. – Progress continues on a new $135 million ventilation system at EM’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP).

Workers have installed construction and crane roads on the construction site for the new Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System (SSCVS). Later this month, the project’s primary subcontractor, Critical Applications Alliance (CAA), will begin utility excavation for a building that will house equipment for removing salt dust from the air before it enters the filtration unit. Work on a concrete batch is underway for the ventilation system foundation.

Workers have made progress on the Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System, advancing from a 2016 illustration of the system’s capital project (at top) to the fabrication of components for the system this year.
Workers have made progress on the Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System, advancing from a 2016 illustration of the system’s capital project (at top) to the fabrication of components for the system this year.
Workers have made progress on the Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System, advancing from a 2016 illustration of the system’s capital project (at top) to the fabrication of components for the system this year.
Workers have made progress on the Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System, advancing from a 2016 illustration of the system’s capital project (at top) to the fabrication of components for the system this year.

SSCVS provides a modern air supply system designed to run continuously in unfiltered or high-efficiency particulate air filtration mode. The system will provide approximately 540,000 cubic feet per minute of air to the underground, significantly more than the maximum 170,000 cubic feet per minute provided by the current ventilation system.

The increased airflow will allow simultaneous mining, rock bolting, waste emplacement, maintenance, and experimental scientific operations.

The SSCVS is key to full operations at WIPP after a 2014 truck fire and unrelated radiological event temporarily closed the facility.

It will be the largest containment fan system among DOE facilities and the largest construction project at WIPP in close to 30 years. The project is scheduled to be completed by 2021.

Tags:
  • Environmental and Legacy Management
  • Energy Efficiency
  • Decarbonization
  • Clean Energy
  • Nuclear Energy