Nuclear waste storage. View of nuclear waste handling trials in a tunnel of the Waste Isolation Pilot Project (WIPP). The drums seen here hold low-level nuclear waste, used to simulate the high-level waste that will eventually be stored underground. The WIPP tunnels are about 850 metres below the surface in a deep seam of natural salt. The aims of WIPP are to demonstrate the safe handling and integrity of the steel containers, the geological stability of the rock formation and the position of the local water table. WIPP is based at Carlsbad, New Mexico USA.