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IDAHO NATIONAL LABORATORY

Central Facilities Area

The Central Facilities Area (CFA) was established in the 1950s, taking over buildings on 270 square miles in south-central INL previously used by the Navy in World War II as a gunnery range. The U.S. Navy facility was completed in 1943 as a proving ground for battleship. The Navy abandoned the site with the 1949 discontinuation of munitions experiments. The U.S. Army Air Corps used a southwestern section of the area as an aerial gunnery range. Not only does the CFA occupy all the territory formerly used by the military, but also adjacent land that the DOE withdrew from public use when it took over the CFA facility for INL support services.

In its 72 buildings, the CFA primarily houses offices and laboratories, supporting transportation, medical services, maintenance, construction, environmental and radiological monitoring, security, fire protection, warehouses, calibration activities, and a cafeteria. Several new facilities including a vehicle fleet shop, a multicraft complex, three office buildings, a security complex, medical dispensary, fire station, and a laboratory complex were constructed at CFA in the 1990s.

• The Radiological and Environmental Sciences Laboratory (RESL) is an analytical laboratory operated by DOE-ID at INL. The laboratory performs analytical chemistry, radiation measurements, and calibration of radiation detection instruments. Its quality assurance metrology can be traced to the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

• The Services Shops Area includes bus, vehicle, heavy equipment and motor pool maintenance shops. Transportation and Fleet Services maintains over 100 INL passenger buses, 780 light-duty cars, trucks and other vehicles, and over 700 pieces of heavy equipment. The INL Field Operations unit, known as the Big Shop, maintains about 1,540 vehicles and pieces of equipment. It operates a waste-minimization program and a pollution prevention program, which was recognized in 2003 by Idaho GEMStars. Its program to convert diesel-powered motor coach buses to liquefied natural gas received national recognition for efficiency and reduced emissions.

• The Administrative Offices and Support Area is comprised of a light a security complex, medical dispensary, communications center, bus depot, and cafeteria.

• The Remote Service Facilities, on the northeastern end, include light laboratories, the power substation and control house, the sewage treatment plant, and storage buildings.

• The Light Laboratory includes a laboratory building and the Technical Center.

• The Fire Station and Fire Fighting Training Facility (FFTF), which is used by both INL and civilian fire fighters, features a training tower to practice fighting real fires.

• Warehousing and Storage, located in the southeast, contains two large warehouses (CF-601 and CF-674) used for storage, surplus, and materials receiving.

• The CFA also includes the Handling and Open Storage Area and the Sanitary Landfill.

Remediation of the site's contaminated areas, listed as part of Waste Area Group 4, were finalized in 2004. Although high-level waste, transuranic waste, and SNF were never stored or treated at CFA, from 1953 until 1969 the pond at CFA was a disposal site of waste from the Chemical Engineering Laboratory. In addition, until 1995 the pond received runoff water. Three inactive solid waste landfills north of CFA were closed and capped in 1996 under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). The last of the soil that was contaminated with mercury and radionuclides was excavated in 2003. In accordance with a 1999 agreement between the DOE, EPA, and the state of Idaho, it was moved to the INL CERCLA Disposal Facility (ICDF), a landfill with a multi-layer lining system. Additional sites were discovered following the completion of remedial action and were addressed under WAG 10. In August 2005, the Idaho Cleanup Project announced the completion of remediation and instituted a 5-year review program. The facility continues to be used to support INL operations.