The Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico has as of this week treated half of its stock of containers filled with a combustible mix of remediated nitrate salts and organic kitty litter, a spokesman said Tuesday.
Thirty of 60 drums have been processed at the Energy Department site’s Waste Characterization, Reduction, and Repackaging Facility. In each case, workers use a glove box to add an inert substance to the waste to prevent combustion akin to the 2014 incident in which a Los Alamos-origin nitrate-salt container blew open and released radiation into the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M.
After the remediated nitrate salts are processed, the laboratory will process another 29 drums of unremediated waste. Los Alamos had earlier this year anticipated completing all work by Sept. 30, but on June 30 informed DOE that the closeout date has been pushed back to April 10, 2018.
“Safety is the highest priority so we are completing treatment in a manner to ensure workers, environment and public are adequately protected,” the spokesman said by email. “The final cost will not be known until we complete the work.”
Treatment halted briefly last week after a worker accidentally broke piping on the Waste Characterization, Reduction, and Repackaging Facility’s fire suppression system, causing 50 gallons of water to spill out. Work resumed after two days without significant impact to the overall schedule, the spokesman said.
The treated waste will ultimately be shipped to WIPP.
