The Department of Energy started site preparation this summer for expansion of a low-level radioactive waste landfill at the Idaho National Laboratory and the prep work should continue into July 2024, an agency official told an advisory panel last week.
Construction of the third cell for the landfill should be done around September 2025 with operation anticipated in December 2025, Doug Pruitt, DOE’s assistant manager, for environment and waste programs, told the cleanup project’s Citizens Advisory Board on Oct. 25.
A formal groundbreaking for the project occurred in September. The expansion project for Idaho’s Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act Disposal Facility should prolong its operational life by 25 years, to 2050, Pruitt said.
DOE officials have said the current 390,000-cubic-meter capacity is about 80% filled.
The new cell will be south of the existing disposal facilities and will include new evaporation ponds that will connect with existing ponds for better leachate management, Pruitt said.
A link to Pruitt’s presentation and other materials from the advisory board meeting can be found here.
