Research
Funded Research
Continued WIPP support
Dr. James Conca, Director, Carlsbad Environmental Monitoring and Research Center
Washington TRU Solutions
$550,000
CEMRC receives funding to continue WIPP support
The Carlsbad Environmental Monitoring and Research Center (CEMRC) has received three grants in additional funding from Washington TRU Solutions (WTS). The funding will be used to continue support of the U.S. Department of Energy Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), a deep geologic repository that has been disposing of transuranic nuclear waste for the last eight years.
CEMRC provides radiological laboratory space and technical staff and houses WTS scientists to measure radionuclides such as uranium, plutonium and americium in air, soil, water and other media including biological materials. The collaboration between NMSU, CEMRC and WTS has resulted in the only radiological laboratory with a sample turn-around time of less than eight hours. Over the past 10 years, no contamination originating from WIPP has been detected from these vectors. CEMRC is led by Director James Conca.
CEMRC received $170,000 to continue providing analyses of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as methylene chloride or benzene, in the underground air at WIPP. This is to confirm that no VOCs are coming out of the waste that should not be there and to confirm that no hazardous compounds are in the air that workers are breathing. This year, CEMRC will add flammables such as hydrogen and methane to the list of analytes to investigate the atmosphere inside closed waste disposal rooms, to observe what is degassing after the waste rooms are closed. Total funding for VOC monitoring is now $465,000.
CEMRC has also been awarded $375,000 and $5,000 that will support the environmental and radiobioassay program for WTS. This support will involve providing measurements and laboratory facilities for radiation safety activities, radiobioassay measurements of workers and environmental media such as air, water and soil, and general administrative support where necessary.