Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP)

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) was designed to permanently dispose of transuranic radioactive waste left over from the research and production of nuclear weapons. This objective of this project was to design a public address and alarm system for both surface and underground to replace the existing system at the WIPP site.

The existing system was near the end of its intended design life and had specific concerns including inaudible or incoherent announcements in numerous surface locations, emergency strobe lights which were not visible at all underground locations, a lack of backup power to system components rendering the existing system inoperable during a power loss and multiple speaker malfunctions and failures throughout the existing system.

Working closely with prime contractor CMX Services, Encorus Group delivered a design which included provisions for three major site expansions. The new system encompasses a total of nearly 1,000 speakers, amplifiers, and handsets across the site, as well as over three miles each of fiberoptic and ethernet cable.  The system utilizes one GAI-Tronics designed control panel and 28 control panels designed by Encorus. The “hyperspike” speaker array on the roof of one site building is rated at a maximum of 143 decibels and is designed to be audible and coherent from over a mile away in any surface direction.