IDAHO NATIONAL LABORATORY
Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center
The Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center (INTEC), which was known as the Idaho Chemical Processing Plant (ICPP) until 1998, was established in 1952 to recover reusable uranium from spent nuclear fuel (SNF). It was composed of 10 process buildings, 3 fuel storage facilities, 181 support facilities on approximately 200 acres in the south-central part of INL. By April 1992, when the DOE halted processing at the site due to a lack of demand, over one-billion dollars worth of highly enriched uranium had been reprocessed. In 1998, with its new name, INTEC gained a new mission. It moved from reprocessing SNF to treating and preparing waste for disposal.
From 1953 to 1984, treated waste from the reprocessing of SNF was intentionally discharged the Snake River Plain Aquifer beneath INTEC though an injection well. Disposal ponds and leaks in pipes and tanks also contributed to the contamination of the groundwater. INL Oversight monitors the soil, water, air, and radiant at the site. Contaminants found have included tritium, iodine-129, strontium-90, technetium-99, sodium, chloride, nitrate, uranium, radioactive americium, cesium, potassium, and radium.
In June 1993, Judge Harold L. Ryan of Federal District Court ordered that the DOE stop accepting SNF into its Idaho reservation until an environmental study of the area was completed. At the time the INL was the only long-term naval SNF storage facility in the country. The court order came after almost 5 years of work by Idaho's Governor, Cecil D. Andrus, to halt the disposal of nuclear waste. Two years earlier he had prevent the Public Service Company of Colorado from shipping SNF to INL, which prompted the DOE to file a suit.
In October 1995, DOE, the U.S. Navy, and Idaho accepted the Settlement Agreement, requiring that by 2035 all SNF and HLW be removed from the state. By 2023, all the fuel must be moved from storage pools to dry storage. INTEC has 15 storage tanks, four small and seven large tanks have been grouted, leaving four, three of which hold liquid waste and one has never been used. All tanks are expected to be closed by December 2012. By 2012, all liquids must be out of the HLW Tank Farm. In 2004 the DOE was working on closing the pillar and panel tanks of the Tank Farm.
Prior to the Settlement Agreement, the primary fuel storage facilities included CPP-603 and CPP-666. The rest of the facilities consisted of chemical processing, infrastructure support (such as utilities and laboratories), and research and development facilities. Many were undergoing deactivation and decommission (D&D) as early as 1994, including the fuel dissolution cell, the CPP-601/602 complex, the CPP-627 Remote Analytical Facility, the rare gas plant, the ROVER facility, and the waste calcine facility. D&D of CPP-627 was completed in January 2006.
INTEC is one of the five geographic areas included in the 7-year Idaho Cleanup Project (ICP). As of April 2008, ICP had transferred 2,147 of 2,178 of SNF units from wet storage in basins to dry storage in casks. Although 40 of INTEC’s 114 facilities have been deactivated and demolished, the Calcined Solids Storage Facility (CSSF) remains in operation. It consists of seven units permitted for the storage of dry mixed wastes in tank systems, called bin sets. Bin sets 1 through 7 are used to store spent radioactive material at the INL. As of January 2004, INTEC activities also included temporarily storing spent nuclear fuel, managing HLW, and operating the INL CERCLA Disposal Facility, a lined landfill equipped with a system to collect and monitor leachate. The INL CERCLA can hold low-level radioactive waste.
The Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU), which will treat radioactive sodium-bearing waste before it is shipped off-site, is in the process of being constructed at INTEC. As of April 2008, construction of the IWTU was 70 percent complete. It is expected to be in operation before the originally scheduled date of December 31, 2012. In early June 2008, a labor dispute interfered with the construction effort. The IWTU, using steam reforming technology, will treat SBW as transuranic waste or high-level waste to stabilize it as a solid for disposal. The IWTU will allow the emptying of the SBW tanks on the Tank Farm.Ultimately, IWTU will also treat most other ICP and INL mixed low-level waste. It is also designed to be compatible with calcine removal. A staging area adjacent to the ITWU will handle SBW containers and packaged waste of the RWMC Waste Management Program for shipment to WIPP.
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| Photo Date: January 1989 Photo Number: 300 035 001 | ||
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