Weapons Complex Monitor Vol. 33 No. 22
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Weapons Complex Monitor
Article 5 of 7
June 03, 2022

IWTU demonstration run resumes at Idaho National Lab

By Staff Reports

After working out various kinks since late December, the Department of Energy has resumed its demonstration run of the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit at the Idaho National Laboratory, a spokesperson said Wednesday.

Following a successful heat-up, waste simulant processing resumed on May 23, a DOE spokesperson said in an email.

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) said in a recently posted staff report that the Contractor Readiness Assessment for Radiological Operations could be issued this month.

The DOE has, through various stops and starts, been trying to execute a planned 50-day demonstration run of the facility, designed to convert up to 900,000 gallons of sodium-bearing waste into a more stable granular material, since late December. But the effort has been complicated by worker mistakes, component problems and a lack of reliable supplies of large amounts of nitrogen needed to operate the fluidized bed steam-reforming facility. 

Connie Flohr, DOE’s manager of the Idaho Cleanup Project, told a citizens advisory board in April the agency and its contractor, Jacobs-led Idaho Environmental Coalition, would be restarting the demonstration run from scratch. She also said the confirmatory run, meant as the final dress rehearsal prior to radiological operations, would not necessarily end at the 50-day mark but take as long as necessary.

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NEW: Via public records request, I’ve been able to confirm reporting today that a warrant has been issued for DOE deputy asst. secretary of spent fuel and waste disposition Sam Brinton for another luggage theft, this time at Las Vegas’s Harry Reid airport. (cc: @EMPublications)

DOE spent fuel lead Brinton accused of second luggage theft.



by @BenjaminSWeiss, confirming today's reports with warrant from Las Vegas Metro PD.

Waste has been Emplaced! 🚮

We have finally begun emplacing defense-related transuranic (TRU) waste in Panel 8 of #WIPP.

Read more about the waste emplacement here: https://wipp.energy.gov/wipp_news_20221123-2.asp

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