The Integrated Waste Treatment Unit at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory has resumed running simulant as the contractor awaits final federal approval to start mixing in liquid sodium-bearing radioactive waste, a DOE spokesperson said Wednesday.
The federal agency and its cleanup contractor at the site, Jacobs-led Idaho Environmental Coalition, hope to be operating by mid-April with a 90%-to-10% mixture of simulant and sodium-bearing radioactive waste, a DOE spokesperson said via email.
The Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) is again treating simulant following a one-month outage to complete maintenance and cleanup primarily in the Process Cell where the Denitration Mineralization Reformer is located, a DOE spokesperson said via email.
“Crews replaced valve and pump components following a small simulant leak in the process cell,” the spokesperson said.
After operating with the 90-to-10 mix for about 45 days, which would roughly translate to June 1, IWTU crews would then incrementally work up to 100% radioactive waste operation, the spokesperson said.
Radioactive waste operations would mark crossing of an elusive finish line for the long-overdue plant.
The IWTU was first built by a CH2M-led contractor in 2012 to solidify 900,000 gallons of liquid waste into a more stable granular form for eventual disposal. But the steam reforming plant failed to work as planned. The next contractor, Fluor Idaho, spent years re-engineering and revamping the steam reforming plant before passing the responsibility onto Idaho Environmental Coalition in January 2022.
