The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is taking comments this month on the Energy Department’s annual update to its cleanup plans for the Idaho National Laboratory complex.
The comment deadline on DOE’s draft 2019 version of its Site Treatment Plan for the 890-square-mile national laboratory expires at 5 p.m. local time on Dec. 28, according to a notice on the DEQ website.
The 127-page draft plan and accompanying 19-page report spell out how DOE intends to comply with Federal Facility Compliance Act standards for managing mixed wastes at INL. The yearly update covers changes to planning milestones and waste treatment plans for INL.
The Idaho DEQ must approve or conditionally approve the new Site Treatment Plan before it can be modified.
Changes proposed in this year’s draft involve changes in the rate of transuranic waste shipments to the DOE’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico, DEQ official Brian English said in an email. The Energy Department adopted tougher waste acceptance criteria for WIPP following a February 2014 radiation release at the underground site. The INL’s Idaho Cleanup Project won certification under the tougher standards in May.
