CARLSBAD, NEW MEXICO — Tommy Cash has spent the last 23 years hauling some of the most tightly regulated cargo in the country, transuranic radioactive waste from U.S. Department of Energy sites across the nation to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, New Mexico, and he has done it without a single crash across more than 3.6 million miles. On August 18, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance named him the 2026 International Driver Excellence Award recipient.
Cash drives for CAST Specialty Transportation Inc. and is one of only 36 professional drivers in the United States entrusted with transporting transuranic radioactive waste for the DOE’s WIPP program, the nation’s only repository for the permanent disposal of transuranic waste generated by atomic energy defense activities. Getting that job requires an exceptional driving history and an extremely rigorous background screening process.
The inspection record alone is remarkable. In the past three years Cash has passed more than 195 Level VI Inspections, the most stringent commercial vehicle inspection standard, conducted at the point of origin before a driver can depart. Every inspection requires the vehicle, driver, and cargo to be entirely free of defects. Over his 23 years hauling radioactive waste, Cash estimates he has passed well over 1,000 Level VI Inspections.
Before specializing in radioactive waste transport, Cash hauled fuel, milk, refrigerated goods, flatbed loads, and bulk commodities throughout his more than four decade career. Today he also serves as a senior lead driver and mentor within the WIPP program, road-testing applicants, training new hires, and coaching fellow drivers.
“In fact, Tommy has set the bar so high that we’ve had to adapt hiring and training standards further to keep up with his superior performance,” said Mike Savage, director of safety at CAST Specialty Transportation. “Mr. Cash is the crown jewel of drivers within our fleet. The motoring public is safer with a driver like Mr. Cash operating on American roadways.”
Cash’s advice to fellow drivers is straightforward. “Be aware not just of what’s right in front of your truck, but what’s ahead of your truck, further down the road, and what’s going on behind your truck too.”
And his pitch for the profession hasn’t changed. “I always tell anyone who is even thinking about becoming a truck driver, ‘What other job pays you to see the country? You just can’t beat that.'”
Cash will be honored at the CVSA Annual Conference and Exhibition in Orlando in September, where he will receive a $5,000 prize and a crystal trophy at the awards luncheon on September 23. The 2026 award was sponsored by PrePass Safety Alliance.
Interviews courtesy of CVSA.
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