Not long ago, the Energy Department anticipated operational startup this year of the long- awaited Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) at the Idaho National Laboratory – but that could slide to September 2021.
That is the anticipated date for “full-fledged operation,” as opposed to testing, of the plant intended to treat 900,000 gallons of sodium-bearing radioactive waste, said Brian English, hazardous waste permits supervisor at the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality. The final tests of the facility using a simulant will be conducted next summer, English said in a Tuesday email.
For its part, Energy Department cleanup contractor Fluor Idaho is eyeing next spring or early summer for startup, but said Thursday much is dependent on the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The schedule referenced by English is only a draft intended to assist DEQ with its future permitting needs and plan for resources, a Fluor Idaho spokesperson said by email.
In January, DOE Senior Adviser for Environmental Management William (Ike) White told a Washington, D.C., conference he was “very hopeful” IWTU operations would start by the end of the year. Energy Department officials had pointed to the same goal in late 2019.
Idaho DEQ officials were briefed by Fluor Idaho managers on the new IWTU timeline during a July 21 conference call. The Idaho National Laboratory, including cleanup overseen by Fluor, moved to minimum operations on March 26 in an effort to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. It exited that status in the first week of May.
An Energy Department spokesperson said in Wednesday email it is still too early to set a definitive schedule for the facility’s operations.
Work is occurring in a “deliberate and controlled” manner as a result of increased safety protocols due to COVID-19, the DOE spokesperson said.
“Until we resume full operations on the project and get the workforce fully back on site, it is premature to speculate on a revised schedule.”
The pandemic has affected factors such as Fluor Idaho’s supply chain, availability of construction craftspeople, and access to the site by certain vendors, said the Fluor spokesperson. All those issues could affect the schedule for operations, the representative added.
Under a 1995 agreement on removal of radioactive waste from Idaho, the Energy Department agreed to start converting the sodium-bearing liquid waste into a more-stable solid form for disposal by the end of 2012. The facility was built by then, but never worked as designed. Over time the cost of the facility has risen from $570 million in 2012 to $1 billion in 2019, the Government Accountability Office said in a report last September.
Following plant modifications, Fluor Idaho said it was encouraged by tests with simulant in 2019. The last such testing was conducted in June 2019, and the next simulant run is expected in December or January, English said.
Tasks done since the last test run include installing canister fill cell robots and the wet/dry decontamination system, according to Fluor.
This November, Fluor Idaho is expected to file its request with the state in order to update the Hazardous Waste Management Act/Resource Conservation and Recovery Act permit to reflect the changes made at the facility over time, English said.
A two-part standard performance test is expected to begin by June. Part 1 of the test will use a simulant. It will be followed by an operational readiness review, and ultimately phase 2 of the test will treat some actual sodium-bearing waste.
