William (Ike) White, the top fed at the Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management, anticipates radiological operations “at least up and running” at the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit at Idaho National Laboratory by the end of the year.
White made the remark to Weapons Complex Monitor Wednesday after a House Science, Space and Technology panel hearing on research and development for nuclear cleanup.
“We have made it about seven weeks so far with our latest simulant run,” White said. “Obviously with a facility like this we have had to work very hard to address a number of issues,” White said. “There is always some risk” but the recent simulant run is very encouraging, he added.
The agency and Jacobs-led Idaho Environmental Coalition, the third contractor team in a decade seeking to get the treatment unit for sodium-bearing high-level radioactive waste operating, have now treated over 100,000 gallons of simulant during the test run, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) said this week.
This final confirmatory test run began May 23 after DOE tried, unsuccessfully since late December, to sustain a 50-day confirmatory run. Interruptions stemmed from various challenges including nitrogen supply issues, an automatic shutdown triggered by human error and component problems with the fluidized bed steam-reforming facility.
Meanwhile, EM announced Tuesday that a contractor readiness review for radiological operations is starting for IWTU, which should be completed this week. The IWTU was designed to convert about 900,000 gallons of sodium-bearing radioactive waste at Idaho National Laboratory into a granular form. Once in granular form, the waste will be stored in stainless steel onsite canisters until DOE cites a repository for high-level waste.
The sodium-bearing liquid waste is now held at the laboratory’s tank farm at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center. The liquid was generated during past decontamination of piping and vessels used in spent nuclear fuel reprocessing at the technology and engineering center, according to DOE.
