DOE Completes Sludge Drum Treatment Campaign
WC Monitor
7/25/2014
The Department of Energy and its two main cleanup contractors at the Idaho site have wrapped up a project to prepare thousands of drums of sludge waste for eventual disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. The project, which began in November 2012, addressed 6,000 drums that contained a total of approximately 1,200 cubic meters of waste that had been sent to the Idaho site from the now-closed Rocky Flats site in the 1970s. The sludge drums were stored at the Idaho Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project, managed by Idaho Treatment Group, LLC, and transferred over to Idaho cleanup contractor CH2M-WG Idaho, which treated and repackaged the drums in a soft-sided enclosure previously used to clean up the Pit 9 waste disposal cell. “The facility was excessed out of CERCLA and a RCRA permit for the ARP V facility was implemented,” CWI spokesman Erik Simpson said in a written response. “A treatment process was installed for processing the sludge wastes under the RCRA permit. The drum packaging stations and waste exhumation equipment were utilized for the RCRA treatment and repackaging process.”
Treatment of the 6,000 drums resulted in more than 12,000 drums being returned to ITG due to the addition of absorbent to immobilize liquids, according to a DOE release issued late last week. The drums will be recharacterized and sent to WIPP once that facility resumes operations. “By using our existing facilities, and with the combined support of federal and contractor employees, CWI and ITG are demonstrating the dedication and commitment of the Idaho site to safely and compliantly treat and ship challenging radioactive waste streams,” DOE’s Jim Cooper said in the release.
