The recently-commissioned treatment plant at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory is now processing an evenly mixed blend of simulant and liquid sodium-bearing radioactive waste, an agency spokesperson said this week.
The $1.4-billion Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) at the Idaho National Laboratory, which began radiological operations April 11, has progressed to a half-and-half blend of waste to simulant after starting with 100% simulant and later 90% simulant, the DOE spokesperson said in a Thursday evening email.
Moving to the 50% milestone on the way to 100% radwaste is a big step in removing the liquid waste from the nearby tank farm and protecting the underlying Snake River Plain Aquifer, DOE said.
So far, IWTU has converted more than 4,700 gallons of tank farm waste to a more stable, granular solid. IWTU crews have filled 34 stainless-steel canisters of waste, stored in concrete storage vaults on-site, the DOE spokesperson said in the email.
The long-delayed steam reforming plant, in the works since before 2007, is designed to convert about 900,000 gallons of sodium-bearing waste left over from nuclear fuel reprocessing, into a more stable granular form.
Construction of the IWTU initially took place between 2007 and 2012, but the plant did not work as designed. A major overhaul occurred between 2012 and 2023 first under Fluor Idaho and more recently under the Idaho Environmental Coalition.
