Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
Waste Isolation Pilot Plant is a repository facility in United States. Its capacity is not publicly disclosed.
The only operating deep geological repository in the world, 650 metres down in a salt bed that creeps closed and self-seals around the waste. It matters here as proof that deep disposal is engineerable — but it holds defence transuranic waste, not the commercial spent fuel that the rest of this page is about, and the distinction is often lost in argument.
Facility
| Stage | Back end |
|---|---|
| Operator | not stated |
| Country | United States |
| Capacity | not disclosed |
| Figure applies to | — |
| Note on the figure | Over 90,000 m³ of transuranic waste emplaced. Not spent fuel: WIPP takes defence transuranic waste only, and is legally barred from accepting commercial spent fuel or high-level waste. |
| Status | operating |
| Commissioned | 1999 |
| Coordinates | 32.3720, -103.7940 |
Position in the chain
No disclosed capacity, so its share of world repository capacity cannot be stated.
Other repository facilities
| Facility | Capacity | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Yucca Mountain | 70,000tHM total | closed |
| Onkalo | not disclosed | construction |
| Forsmark spent fuel repository (KBS-3) | not disclosed | construction |
| Cigéo | not disclosed | planned |
| Canadian deep geological repository | not disclosed | planned |
| Nördlich Lägern | not disclosed | planned |
Sources
- World Nuclear Association, Storage and Disposal of Radioactive Waste · retrieved 2026-09-06