There is a diminishing likelihood that the long-awaited Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) at the Idaho National Laboratory will begin operations this year, as had been hoped in some quarters, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board indicated recently.
The Energy Department and lab cleanup contractor Fluor Idaho have yet to announce a startup date, but DOE Idaho Deputy Manager Jack Zimmerman said in February it could happen this year. The facility is designed to treat liquid waste now in tanks, and in the process help DOE comply with a legal settlement.
In an important milestone, IWTU operators recently started feeding a nonradioactive waste simulant into the facility’s denitration mineralization reformer, the DNFSB said in its latest INL site report. The DMR is the IWTU’s main reaction vessel and the site of prior operational problems. The facility on July 20 kicked off 30 days of tests using the simulant, which will be followed by an extended 50-day run for more testing.
When the process is completed, Fluor Idaho plans a facility maintenance outage, which could take several months.
Built in 2012 to treat the waste, the IWTU encountered design problems that delayed operations. In public meetings this year, DOE officials have lauded the progress made in solving the startup issues.
The facility is an outgrowth of a 1995 legal settlement between DOE, Idaho, and the Navy over nuclear waste storage in the state. Among other things, the deal required DOE to treat nearly 900,000 gallons of high-level sodium-bearing liquid waste, found in tank farms at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center, by the end of 2012. When operational, the IWTU would convert that waste into a solid, granular material and then package it in stainless steel canisters.
The state barred further shipments of spent fuel to the Idaho National Laboratory after DOE missed the 2012 deadline. Idaho has levied more than $4 million in penalties against DOE for failing to get the IWTU running. The federal agency has conducted environmental projects in the state to offset some of the fines.
