Startingtoday, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, along with other transuranic waste generating sites across the Department of Energy, will have to follow newly revised packaging and certification criteria that resulted from investigations into a 2014 radiological release at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, or WIPP.

WIPP is a geological repository for transuranic waste located near Carlsbad, New Mexico. The site was shut down in 2014 following the radiological release and a salt truck fire, halting shipments from facilities like Savannah River Site.

Materials sent to the site are typically things like gloves, tools and other materials that become contaminated during the handling of spent nuclear fuel or plutonium. The materials are packaged into containers like the TRUPACT-III. The new criteria will require those shipments to undergo inspection to ensure compliance with revised safety and content guidelines before being sent on to WIPP. The facility is a permanent disposition facility meant to hold the materials for 10,000 years until the material has effectively decayed.

According to a news release from WIPP, all containers not already interred there will need to go through a reevaluation process, and some of the material may need to to be treated and repackaged. However, officials don't foresee these changes affecting the projected WIPP reopening date in December.

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions said it will work with the new regulations moving forward. In an email statement, SRNS officials said, "At the Savannah River Site, the Department of Energy and its contractors will establish a path forward to meet the new requirements."

Thomas Gardiner is the SRS beat reporter for the Aiken Standard.

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