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IDAHO NATIONAL LABORATORY

Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project

The Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project (AMWTP), which is located on the east side of the RWMC, stores, certifies, and ships transuranic (TRU) waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in Carlsbad, New Mexico. It is operated by Bechtel BWXT Idaho (BBWI).

The 1995 Settlement Agreement initiated the building of the AMWTP, but the project was delayed when groups concerned with the facility's health and environmental implications sued the DOE. After the DOE signed an agreement with the concerned parties, construction of facility began in August 2000 and was completed in late December 2002.

Most of the waste that is processed at AMWTP is a mixed waste, contaminated with both radioactive materials and other hazardous chemicals, came from Colorado's Rocky Flats Plant in the 1970s and 1980s. The waste is primarily composed of industrial debris, soil, and sludge from the Cold War-era manufacture of nuclear components.

At the AMWTP waste goes through a four-step process prior to shipment.

• The Retrieval Enclosure stores waste on asphalt pads under a soil berm enclosed in a metal structure. It also includes five storage modules where waste is kept in drums and boxes on concrete pads.

• At the Characterization Facility, waste containers are examined to determine the contents. Testing equipment includes real-time radiography units to see the components inside the drums, gamma spectrometry equipment to measure the radiation of the containers, a drum corning unit to sample containers, and a headspace gas sampling glovebox to check for harmful gases. Following characterization, the containers head to loading facilities to be packaged and shipped or to the Treatment Facility.

• The Treatment Facility reduces the size of, sorts, and repackages waste. An on-site Supercompactor, which is capable of reducing a drum to approximately one-fifth of its original 55-gallon size, handles about 70 percent of the facility's waste. A shredder turns boxes into sawdust and drums into metal scraps. On two boxlines waste is remotely sorted, removing restricted liquids and compressed gas, further reduced, and repackaged.

• The AMWTP has two loading areas. Before loading, waste containers first go through payload assembly, in which they are categorized into four groups. Then the four groups are loaded separately into TRUPACT II containers, double-containment vessels certified for transporting waste, which then undergo visual and mechanical inspection. Finally, the waste is shipped the 1,300 miles to WIPP.

The facility is inspected by the Department of Energy's Idaho Operations Office (DOE-ID), Idaho's Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), and the Idaho State Police. Furthermore, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission along with the states of Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico must approve the shipping plans.