35 TRU Waste Containers Sent from Idaho to WCS

In order to meet a commitment to Idaho, the Department of Energy this week sent 35 transuranic waste containers from the Idaho National Laboratory to the Waste Control Specialists facility in Texas for interim storage. The waste was sent last November to Idaho’s Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project for treatment, but was required to leave the state within one year. However, that removal of the waste was put on hold after the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant shut down after the incidents in February. “We needed to work very hard to provide a receiver site for that and there were 35 containers of waste removed from Idaho on Monday that safely arrived at Waste Control Specialists for temporary staging pending the opening of WIPP,” DOE Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary for Waste Management Christine Gelles said yesterday at the ETEBA Business Opportunities Conference in Knoxville, Tenn.. “That was only possible through the very strong collaboration between us and the state of Texas and the regulator there and WCS to be able to meet that Idaho commitment.”