New INL Clean Up Facility Means 900,000 Gallons Of Waste Gone By Dec.

A first-of-its-kind facility has sprung up at the Idaho National Laboratory. It means a step forward for one of the contractors that calls the INL home.

“It’s really a milestone that’s going to help Idaho in its cleanup to protect the aquifer,” said Clean Up Project president Tom Dieter. “Because there’s an aquifer under the site out there about the size of Lake Michigan.”

It makes up miles and miles of drinking water and now, a new facility to make sure all that water reaches water users untouched.

“Anything that we can get out of the ground that cannot get down to that drinking water and the farmer’s water will protect that water for years to come,” said Dieter.

Dieter said the contractor’s new Integrated Waste Treatment Unit, or IWTU, will be the front line in cleaning up about 900,000 gallons of liquid radioactive waste remaining at the site.

Within the IWTU facility, the liquid waste is extracted from tanks below the ground and turned into a powder. That powder gets packed in safe canisters, and those canisters go into even safer vaults. Then, it’s off to another facility for storage.

Up, out, and away from that aquifer. For Dieter, it’s a proud moment that showcases teamwork at the project.

“We could have never done this project — first of a kind, first of a kind design — build it, design and construct without the talented workforce in Idaho,” said Dieter.

The clean up project said about 1,500 total workers were necessary to create that new facility from start to finish. It’s a process which began 7 years ago. The facility will start treatment on those 900,000 gallons of waste sometime in April if everything goes according to plan.

All that liquid should be in powder form by December 2012.