The federal government’s named a new chief of mining at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, New Mexico—the world’s third deep geological repository for radioactive waste left from research and production of nuclear weapons.
The hiring of Pete Graham was announced by the Energy Management Carlsbad Field Office and the management and operations contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership.
“I’m extremely excited, glad I’m here and back into underground mining,” said Graham, who started at WIPP on June 4. “I’m going to enjoy it here. It makes you get up every morning. Never a dull moment.”
He previously worked for US Silica in West Virginia wheere he was plant manager and accountable for 450,000 tons of yearly production and 81 employees.
Graham oversees all mining departments at WIPP including geotechnical and mine engineering, mining and fabrication shop, hoisting and shaft crew, underground facility operations, underground maintenance, and underground work control.
From 2012 to 2014, Graham was the mine manager at Compass Minerals’ Sifto Canada Goderich mine, the world’s largest salt mine located 1,800 feet underneath Lake Huron. He oversaw 490 hourly employees and 92 staff members at the mine, which produced 7.5 million tons per year of de-icing and chemical salts.
He was director of mining and distribution for the Detroit Salt Company’s mine in Michigan from 2002 to 2012. Graham has held positions at zinc and copper mining operations dating back to the late 1960s, when he started his career as a sample technician and later an analytical lab technician at the Duval Esperanza mine and concentrator in Arizona.