The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is the first long-term underground radioactive waste disposal facility to be built in the United States, and so far it's also the only one. This Department of Energy (DOE) facility east of Carlsbad, New Mexico, is a final disposal site for government-generated radioactive waste, including material from nuclear weapons production. The plant was constructed in the early 1980s and finally received the first load of waste in the late 1990s. Constructed at this facility is a mile-long corridor 2,150 feet underground, off of which are several chambers for waste storage. All the waste disposed of at WIPP is low level material from other DOE and military sites, comprised of mostly irradiated laboratory material, such as gloves, protective clothing, and other disposable test equipment.
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