DOE Resumes Radioactive Waste Removal At INL Site

After a nearly two-year suspension, operations to remove radioactive waste at the Idaho National Laboratory have resumed this week.

The Department of Energy’s Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project, or AMWTP, is in charge of treating the remaining material before shipping it to a plant in New Mexico.

Back in July 2010, former contractor Bechtel BWXT Idaho halted operations after two incidents. In both cases a wooden box containing the waste fell apart during the retrieval process.

The new contractor, Idaho Treatment Project, started work on Monday to retrieve the remaining 6,900 cubic meters still at the site 50 miles west of Idaho Falls.

According to the DOE, the waste is the last of 65,000 cubic meters that have been stored in drums, boxes and bins in Idaho for about 40 years. It includes contaminated industrial debris like rags and tools and even soil and sludge.

Idaho Treatment Project spokesman Rick Dale said safety measures, like extensive engineered controls, have been put in place.

“For things like boxes that may not be stable, we have another containment enclosure called the inner containment enclosure and that further provides protection for the employees who are doing this retrieval work,” said Dale.

The DOE said AMWTP is an important part of its plans to remove waste at other sites around the country. Dale said that’s because it’s a unique facility with the only super-compactor in the country that can compress waste.

The project is scheduled to wrap up by Sept. 30, 2015.