ISM Colloquium: Lessons learned from the WIPP fire and radiological events
“Lessons learned from the WIPP fire and radiological events,” an Integrated Safety Management (ISM) colloquium, will be presented by Farok Sharif, Nuclear Waste Partnership, LCC, on Thursday, April 20, 2017, at 10 a.m. in the Bldg. 402 Auditorium.
Refreshments will be served.
APS parking update: Rock Road will be closed to through traffic from the east side of Bldg. 401 APS. Detour signs will indicate alternative route to APS parking lots. See the Argonne Today article for additional information.
Abstract
On February 5, 2014, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in Carlsbad, New Mexico, experienced an underground fire. Nine days later, a drum of waste from Los Alamos National Laboratory had a significant thermal event, releasing its radiological contents and causing contamination in the underground and surface areas. Find out what lessons were learned from the fire event in the 2,150-feet deep repository where 86 workers had to be evacuated, and what it took to recover and reopen the WIPP facility from the radiological event.
This is a personal account of two significant events at WIPP, the only operating deep-geological repository, that impacted the transuranic waste program across the U.S. Department of Energy complex.
Bio
Farok Sharif is the Project Manager for the National TRU Waste Program with the Nuclear Waste Partnership, LLC, the management and operating contractor at WIPP. He is responsible for ensuring that all WIPP waste characterization and certification operations are performed in a safe, secure and cost-effective manner in strict compliance with environmental regulations. Sharif has more than 26 years of experience in the nuclear waste management field and holds a bachelor‘s degree in production and operations management as well as an MBA from New Mexico State University.
