Fluor Idaho, the U.S. Energy Department’s cleanup contractor at the Idaho National Laboratory, expects within weeks to largely conclude its work at the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project (AMWTP).
As of late August, 140 cubic meters of transuranic waste debris remained to be treated at the AMWTP, company spokesman Erik Simpson said by email Tuesday. The company expects its treatment mission will be complete by October.
However, shipping the treated material to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico for permanent disposal will continue for about 10 years, he added.
Last December, the Energy Department revealed plans to close the facility by the end of 2019 after it finishes treating about 65,000 cubic meters of transuranic waste. The AMWTP features a super-compactor that can compress a 55-gallon drum into a “puck” of about 5 inches thick, reducing the space needed on haul trucks and, eventually, at WIPP.
Workers at AMWTP in 2003 began retrieving, treating, and shipping above-ground sludge waste covered by a 1995 settlement between DOE, the state, and the U.S. Navy over nuclear waste storage in Idaho. The waste handled at AMWTP originally was produced decades ago by the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons site in Colorado. Most of the 65,000 cubic meters was sent to WIPP prior to 2014.
In April, the company announced plans to cut its 650-member by 190 people during fiscal 2019, which ends on Sept. 30. In early May, the company said 28 employees took a voluntary separation package during the first phase of that effort, with another 30 having transferred to another Fluor project or left the company altogether.
“As part of the final steps for a workforce restructuring action initiated in April, Department of Energy cleanup contractor Fluor Idaho has determined that no involuntary layoffs are necessary at this time,” the company said in a Tuesday email statement.
Fluor Idaho opened the window for its second and final round of voluntary buyouts on July 31, at which time about 494 people were working at AMWTP.
