The Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee said this week it has easily beaten a September 2018 deadline to ship off 2,247 containers of mixed hazardous and radioactive waste.
The project was carried out under the Oak Ridge Reservation Site Treatment Plan under a state order to the Department of Energy, according to a Y-12 press release. This is one segment of a broader project to deal with legacy waste at the federal nuclear weapons site.
“Removal of legacy waste materials from Y-12 is a key priority for NNSA. Completing this removal project two years ahead of schedule is a significant achievement,” Geoff Beausoleil, who heads the National Nuclear Security Administration Production Office, said in a press release.
The waste was almost entirely solid residues that did not need additional treatment for land disposal under the federal Resource Recovery and Conservation Act. However, 2,100 containers had to be repacked under Department of Transportation rules for shipment of material containing uranium. That segment of the project wrapped up in 2011.
The other solid residue waste had to go through several rounds of treatment and processing before being approved for disposal. This material was divided into multiple storage containers to lower the uranium content and then “rocked up” — a large container was used to store a smaller container with the actual waste, and then filled with concrete.
Organic solutions in bottles had to be processed and divided multiple times ahead of shipment and disposal, the release says.
Y-12 sent 187 shipments of waste to an EnergySolutions site in Utah, while the other six were transported to the Nevada National Security Site.
Steven Wyatt, a spokesman for the NNSA Production Office, did not immediately have a cost estimate on the years-long project.
Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation spokesman Eric Ward called Y-12’s actions a “positive development” in reducing the Oak Ridge waste inventory and maintaining compliance with environmental regulations. “There were no fines or penalties, given that Y-12 stored their mixed waste inventory in compliance with RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act) prior to disposal and met relevant Site Treatment Plan milestones well in advance,” Ward said.
