The Department of Energy said Tuesday the Idaho National Laboratory recently made its first shipment of remote-handled transuranic (TRU) waste to DOE’s underground disposal site in New Mexico for the first time since 2014.
Workers from Amentum-led contractor Idaho Environmental Coalition made the remote-handled transuranic waste shipment on April 21, according to DOE. The shipments occur under an Idaho federal court settlement with the federal government. Idaho lab cleanup officials have been planning this for a long time.
DOE’s Idaho Cleanup Project crews at the laboratory have long been regularly shipping the less radioactive contact-handled TRU to the department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M.
Transuranic waste is the residue of radioactively-contaminated tools, rags, clothes, soil and components.
WIPP disposes of two types of defense-related transuranic waste, according a DOE website on WIPP. Contact-handled waste has a radiation dose rate of no more than 200 millirem (mrem) per hour, as measured at the surface of the waste container. But remote-handled TRU can have a dose rate up to 1,000 rem per hour.
About 96% of the waste to be disposed of at WIPP is contact-handle, according to DOE. But when shipped both remote and contacted-handled waste have the same dose rate limit on the outside of the shipping casks thanks to lead shielding, DOE said.
“The shipment represents a significant step forward in advancing the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Environmental Management mission, emphasizing the remediation of contaminated sites and the safe, permanent disposal of transuranic waste,” said Nick Balsmeier, acting ICP manager. “These efforts align with DOE’s vision of sustainability while safeguarding the environment for future generations.”