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Third Buried Waste Retrieval Project under way at DOE Idaho Site
The Idaho Cleanup Project has recently begun removing Cold War weapons waste
from a third retrieval area at the Department of Energy’s Radioactive Waste
Management Complex (RWMC) in eastern Idaho.
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An inside view of the Accelerated Retrieval Project III enclosure
Click on image for larger picture |
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The Accelerated Retrieval Project-III (ARP-III) began retrieving targeted
waste consisting of plutonium-contaminated filters, graphite molds, solidified
radioactively and organically contaminated sludges and oxidized uranium material
on December 10, 2008. These materials originated at the Rocky Flats Plant near
Denver, Colorado, during nuclear weapons production activities in the 1960s and
were packaged in drums and sent to Idaho for buried disposal.
Targeted waste is being repackaged into 55-gallon drums. The radioactive
wastes classified as transuranic are prepared and shipped to DOE’s Waste
Isolation Pilot Plant facility in New Mexico for permanent disposal, while other
classes of radioactive waste are sent to other appropriate off-site treatment
and/or disposal facilities.
In 2005, the U.S. Department of Energy, with U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency and state of Idaho concurrence, began waste exhumation in the ARP-I
facility to remove targeted wastes from a half-acre portion of Pit 4 at the
RWMC’s 97-acre Subsurface Disposal Area (SDA). ARP-I waste exhumation was
completed in early 2008.
In 2007, crews began waste exhumation in the ARP-II facility from the eastern
portion of Pit 4 and part of Pit 6 to remove some of the highest accumulation of
plutonium-contaminated waste and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) within the
burial ground. Organic compounds represent the greatest threat to the underlying
Snake River Plain Aquifer, which lies 585 feet below the landfill. Waste
exhumation in the ARP-II facility is approximately 60 percent complete.
ARP-III will exhume waste from the eastern portion of Pit 6, containing some
of the highest densities of radioactively-contaminated waste and solidified
solvents in the SDA.
All excavations at the SDA are taking place with the use of modified
excavation equipment designed to protect workers from airborne contaminants.
Metal framed buildings with fabric linings are erected over the buried waste
pits and utilize high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters within
ventilation systems.
Established in 1952, the RWMC disposed of site-generated radioactive and
hazardous wastes. From 1954 through 1970, the landfill received wastes from the
Rocky Flats Plant and other off-site generators.
The DOE, EPA and state of Idaho signed a record of decision (ROD) in
September 2008, which calls for the removal of targeted wastes from a combined
area of 5.69 acres, grouting in place of select mobile fission product wastes
and placement of a permanent evapotranspiration surface barrier or cap over the
entire 97-acre burial ground. The ROD is consistent with the Department of
Energy and the State of Idaho’s July 3, 2008 Agreement to Implement the U.S.
District Court Order dated May 25, 2006. To date, more than 2,330 cubic meters
of waste zone materials have been retrieved and packaged at the SDA from a
combined area of 0.73 acres. Retrieval of targeted waste will continue until
approximately 2025, followed by construction of the surface barrier, which is
expected to be completed in 2028.
CH2M-WG Idaho, LLC, directs the Idaho Cleanup Project, the safe,
environmental cleanup of the Idaho National Laboratory site, located 45 miles
west of Idaho Falls. The 7-year, $2.9 billion project, funded through the U.S.
Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, focuses on early risk
reduction and protection of the Snake River Plain Aquifer.
-- ICP--
For more information visit us on the Web at
https://idahocleanupproject.com
ICP-08-###
Editorial Date December 18, 2008
By Danielle Miller
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